Jedi Hunter: the Second Great War
by Dragonzlayerx12
Summary: Remnant has changed. Ever since the Sith arose, the planet has been coming closer to war, but for a year, that was prevented, until a high profile assassination, which was done by the white fang, or so everyone think, lite the match. Mystery and War follow. Now the world falls into a series of events that cannot be stopped. (End of the Jedi Hunter Series)
1. Prologue: Birth of the Empire

**Prologue**

 **Six Months have passed since the fall of Mistral. In that time the kingdoms turned into two main forces, the Remnant Alliance, and the Remnant Empire. Dark Lady Vox and Dark Lord Sym have been running Mistral for the six months, but to make it official the five remaining council members of Mistral have all agreed to Crown Sym and Vox as Emperor and Empress**

Vox knew that today was going to be a long one. She woke up in the bed that used to belong to Headmaster Lionheart. She turned to Sym, who was still asleep. Vox sighs as she gets up.

She felt her stomach, feeling the kick of her unborn child that rested in her womb. This child would be born a prince, or Princess. She didn't want to know until they were born.

She looked in a mirror that was moved in shortly after taking Mistral over. She looked and saw her hair all disheveled. She knew that she would be fixed before she was to become Empress.

She changed out of her bed robes and into a very comfortable dress. Vox looked at the clock and saw that it was 7:00 AM. She went to Sym and shook him. His eyes opened, and he got up. He sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. Since the battle for Mistral, he's been growing out his beard, and it now covered his face, but it was well trimmed.

"The kingly appearance will let others know who I am" he told his wife when he started this. She liked it, so she let him grow it. He got up and stretched.

"Today is going to be long remembered my love. This planet will finally be blessed by sith leadership."

"And true sith we are, but today we are simply heirs. That is until the crown gets placed on our heads." A knock comes from the door.

"My Emperor, your schedule you requested is here." A servant girl said behind a closed door.

"Slide it under the door, then fetch a bath." She did as she was told and left the two

"When do we have to be ready by?" Vox asked

"Noon is when we're getting the crowns. We must be at the place by eleven. Long enough for some alone time." Sym said. He moved closer to his wife and gave her a kiss before getting two robes.

"Would you like to join me in the bath?" Sym said

* * *

The other sith were all getting things ready, mainly guards, but Soule would have to get ready for the coronation in a different way since he's Vox's brother. He got into a very fine suit that was able to hide his lightsaber, and one he could move around in. His wife Zia was helping him get dressed, while at the same time also getting ready herself. She was the only one of the four imperial royal family member that wasn't a sith. She was originally a bounty hunter, and a Mandalorian. She was hired by Soule on a mission and later they fell in love. They shortly after got married.

After they were ready they left the room and saw the commotion in the halls. People raced back and forth to get everything ready. Soule looked at a clock and saw that it was only eight.

"This is going to be a long day." Zia said.

* * *

In the streets the commotion was even worse. Thousands were moving to the city to witness the coronation, with hopes to see the family. The security was heavy, and IDs were getting checked in every building. Cameras were getting set up and news reporters arrived hours before the actual coronation.

In the crowds a single Jedi made his way to a bar, making sure to hide that fact about himself. When he got in he sat down at the bar and ordered two shots of "The strongest drinks you have". The drinks were given to the Jedi and he took the first one.

"This one's to you." He said holding it to the TV screen with a picture of Vox. He slammed the drink back and saw someone walk in. They were a woman. She sat down next to him and picked up the other shot.

"I see you're here Em." He looks around the pub and found a small corner booth.

"I see it. I'll save you a seat." She said. She got up and sat down. She had a good view of the entrance of the building and a TV.

"Want another?" the bartender asked.

"Is the Emperor getting crowned today?"

The bartender poured another shot, and the Jedi placed some Lien on the table. He got up and walked over to Em.

Em was a Faunus, used to be a huntress in training until she left that life. She's a cat faunus. She's also short, which get's her annoyed when someone brings it up.

"You got some really good timing Tanner. We almost got what you're looking for, but with security ramped up, you'll have to wait for tomorrow."

Tanner was in his 30's with a fine beard. He had a darker shade of skin then most, but that didn't cause problems. He did go unnoticed by most, and it was even easier to move around today. What some wouldn't expect was that his eye was cybernetic. It recorded most conversations, and was useful in many cases, and it would give the totally unaltered truth to the Jedi.

"We don't have much time before the ceremony. I got you a front row ticket. Be safe when you go. I don't want to see someone like you go."

"What do you mean by that?" Tanner asks

"Someone who saw me for who I am, and not What I am."

* * *

Two hours passed, and the royal family was almost ready to go in front of their people. The five remaining councilmen were already at the capital and ready to swear in Sym and Vox.

Vox was sitting in a chair with Sym in a very fancy dress. She normally would have wanted to kill anyone who wore anything like this, but for the occasion, she thought she could let it happen. Sym was in what can only be called kingly apparel. He would have fit right in on Alderaan.

"I hate wearing this. It's too tight, and bright. Why do we have to wear this?"

"It's traditional clothes love. Even if we aren't from here we still must follow the traditions. The whole point of doing this is to not seem like invaders. The sith have always enslaved people and that has led to destruction." Vox said

"I still can't believe that anyone would wear this."

"We just need to get through today."

"I know. Where is that brother of yours?"

"I'm here my emperor." Soule said in a mocking tone. Sym turned to him

"You get to wear that?" Sym said.

"I also get my lightsaber. I'm your last line of defense."

"Fine"

The councilmen walked into the room and bowed.

"My emperor, we have all of our lines. Do you have your speech?"

"Who do you think I am! Of course, I have it!" He said. They all bowed once again

"We're sorry sir. We don't know what we were thinking." They all left. Sym saw snapped and someone came up to him with a drink. He drank it and shook his head.

* * *

The Rosso, Lumi, and Brand families were all at the coronation, with the head mob bosses all being given a special place at the coronation, behind it on a balcony overlooking the city. They all got ready.

Tanner got in his seat after showing identification and an invitation, which Em most kindly provided for him. He sat down and started to record.

The cameras were all on the spot where it would happen. The broadcast would be spread to all Anima, then after some editing, it would be release to all the world.

The excitement in the air was at it's apex when the door opened. So many people started to play instruments and cheering could be heard for miles to come. Sym walked out and stood at the edge of the balcony. He smiled and waved to his people. Soon lady Vox went to his side and held onto his hand. She started to smile and wave to the people.

After the highest-ranking councilmen put up his hands, the cheering stopped.

"Good people of the Empire of Remnant, we welcome you to cheer for your Emperor and Empress. They shall be here for you and will keep us safe and strong. Let us now be given an incredible honor, of crowning them. First we will start with Lady Vox"

Vox sat down in a chair. A councilman came up to her with the crown, another with a horn of an ancient animal filled with something that she couldn't see right now.

"Madame, please raise your head to the sky." He asked. Vox did that.

He poured virgin olive oil on her head and took out some dust, and gently put it through her hair to make it sparkle.

"By the will of the Gods, let this ruler have the strength, wisdom, and heart to lead our people"

He steps back. Vox moves her head to receive the crown.

"With this the will of the people, and the protection of the Land is cast upon your shoulders." He placed the crown on her head. It was a very fine crown with twelve different jewels. It was made of gold.

She stood and was named Empress Vox I

Lord Sym was next. He went to where Vox was and got down on one knee.

"With this we dedicate the fire of the spirit to you. We dedicate the mountain of strength, we grant the hurricane of power to you, and we dedicate the ocean of wisdom to you. Protect your people, be fair always, and be just." He pours more oil on Sym's head and places the dust on his head

"Be a true Emperor. Defend your people." The crown is placed on Lord Sym's head.

"Now Rise Emperor Sym I! Emperor of Remnant!" After that he stands up and there is cheering by the whole crowd. After was a fine dance and many gifts were given to Vox.

* * *

Tanner sent everything to the Jedi. He wanted to finish up his job, and get Em out of mistral, but something was keeping him here. He needed to get that last lead. Em had a house in Mistral that he stayed at. He went to it and saw Em sitting on a chair with plenty of papers on the table.

"What are we missing?" He asked.

"I don't know."

"This" A voice says.

Tanner reaches for his green lightsaber but isn't fast enough. In a moment a black lightsaber cut through him. He coughed up blood and fell to the ground letting out a final, pained sigh.

Em got out a blaster and fired twice, before a bolt was in her chest. She looked up to see a woman in red.

"I can't have you find out this little secret. Don't worry, Salem will have use for you." Cinder said. She kissed Em on the check and the Grimm poison flowing through her body. She did the same to Tanner.

The bodies of both got up and moved outside the house where two Grimm portals made from two Grimm leading to Salem's world. Cinder was the last to leave. She turned around and smiled and tossed a torch in the house, and it shortly caught.

* * *

Jash Beam was at the Temple and was taking the info from Tanner. Tanner had given Jash a special device that let him see his vitals, and at night, at least in Mistral, they had a sudden burst, then dead. Jash looked at the vitals, and they weren't coming back on. He immediately ran for the grandmaster and gave her the report from Tanner.

"Master, Jedi Tanner has been killed!" Jash said

"How do you know this?"

"Brother Tanner gave me a device that checked his vitals al the time. They've stopped. I think the Empire found him."

"I am truly sorry young Beam. I do not know what we can do. Tanner told us that if he were killed to not go after him, and with the coronation, we can't do anything politically."

"So, were just going to do nothing?"

"What would you have us do?"

"I don't know, but something!"

"You would have us seek revenge? You would have us stoop to the level of the sith?"

"No… but Brother Tanner was my friend."

"Then go. Mourn him."

"I think I will follow your advice master. Thank you for helping me." Jash left the room

"I worry about the young ones. I think the darkness is bad for them. They come closer and closer to vengeance. Arin Jones asked for vengeance last week." The grandmaster said to Ozpin

"Young people are much more eager to get what they see as justice. This cold war is having affects on all of us. Once it goes hot, their will be little to stop them."

"That is what I worry about. Jedi should avoid revenge. It leads to the dark side."

"We all must learn to balance our want for revenge with our responsibilities."

"But the young ones haven't had to learn that yet."

"They will learn. They have to."

* * *

The Imperial palace was a blaze with motion. Three months have passed since the coronation and Vox's baby is due.

Early in the morning Vox went into Labor. Emperor Sym was with her until she went into the room where the heir of the Remnant Empire would be born. Doctors were moving in and out. Soule and Zia were told, and they went to the birthing room.

The force helped Vox, and everything the doctors did to make the delivery easier. It lasted for about ten hours in total. When it was all done, Vox held a baby boy. A prince was born.

Zia was able to hold him.

"What's his name going to be?" Zia said, holding the baby.

"Cedric Marhor." Vox took her baby boy back in her arms. Sym entered the room and looked at his son.

"Cedric. Our son. He shall be a magnificent warrior, and emperor." Sym could feel a strong force presence in the boy even now.

"He shall be the greatest Sith Lord known to Remnant."

"He shall be."

 _ **Author's notes:**_

 _ **Alright, I'm going to tell you why I couldn't write for the longest time. Microsoft didn't work on my laptop, where I do all my writing now. I need this. SO, I'm planning to upload two chapters when this goes up. It'll be worth it.**_

 _ **Also, from now on I'll have a date with every chapter, with year Zero Month Zero starting next chapter.**_

 _ **I want to thank all my readers for sticking with me.**_

 _ **-May the force be with you**_

 _ **DragonZlayerx12**_


	2. Chapter 1: Spark of war

**Chapter 1**

 _ **DATE: YEAR 0, MONTH 0**_

 **Three months have passed since the birth of Remnant's prince. Karel Allusis, Jedi knight, is on a mission to bring Whitley Schnee to Vacuoo. But first they make a stop in Vale.**

Karel get out of the vehicle that brought him and Whitley Schnee to the city. Karel stretched and started to walk towards the R & D department. It was very close to the temple. He walks in and sees the large warehouse. Karel got a text from Bora Lone, his girlfriend, to meet him at the building.

While he was walked in he whistled and kept walking. Bora heard him and called for him

"Get over here! You'll like what we have to show you!" She shouted. She was with two other people, both from Atlas. When he got to them he saw a metal arm.

"What is this?" He asked "In case you forgot, I still have two arms."

"It's a special armor that fit's around your arm, and it attaches to you. It shows vitals, and when dust is added, the effects are quite varied." One of the people said.

Karel grabbed the armor. It was more of a Gauntlet than anything else. It had an Atlesian look to it. The body was almost all white, but the edges were blue. He could see a screen on it, and an open hatch. It looked like he could put four vials of dust in at once. He closed then and looked at it.

"How do I turn this thing on?" Karel asked

"Put it on." Bora said.

He put it over his left arm. When he did Karel felt four small pinches and saw the screen come alive

"The gauntlet just attached itself to you, temporarily. It just needed to get…"

"Get what?" Karel asked

"You got a few nanobots floating through your body. Nothing dangerous. This is the only time it should do that, unless you somehow get them all removed, or fried." One of the men said

"Thanks. Anything else I should know?"

"Yes, in fact. There is a built-in shield. The shield is made from dust. It is a strong shield if all four are used. It can also shoot out any combination of the dust. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what that could do."

"No, you don't. Anything else for me?"

"Well there are shoes which can be magnetized. Does that sound like something you'd like?"

Karel shook his head and got the shoes. Before he left he kissed Bora on the cheek.

When Karel left he saw Weiss talking to Whitley. Those two have been closer recently since an assassination attempt on Weiss' life some time ago. If Karel wasn't there, she would have died.

"I'll see you soon little brother." She hugged him and turned to Karel. "Keep him safe."

"I will." Weiss hugged Karel and left.

"It's time to go." Whitley said.

"And so, it is."

* * *

Whitley and Karel were on the road, in a truck. The plan was to send off several trucks to make the odds of someone finding the right one slim. The truck normally carried tons of cargo to and from Vacuoo to vale, but today it only carries Karel and Whitley. There were two drivers in the front. Both were trained troops.

The road they traveled on led up a hill covered in trees and it circled to the top. The top would be the most open spot on the entire trip, with valleys and forests covering almost all the rest of the way. Karel knew that he would have to be careful when they got to the top. His gauntlet has a map on it, which Bora didn't mention. He was looking at it when he felt something.

"What was that?" Karel asked. He got out his lightsaber but didn't turn it on.

"We just hit a small Grimm. We're going to try to avoid anymore."

"Please." Karel said.

"Don't worry too much Karel. That was always your problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, whenever you were with Weiss, you were never easy. You were always ready to attack. Not really a good thing to always be on edge." He said, looking at his scroll.

"It's helped me before."

"Not to get a girlfriend." He smirked and looked at his face. "Or is that girl more than just a friend. What was her name? Bora?"

"You definitely like pushing buttons. Leave it alone."

Whitley shrugged and went back to the phone. Karel went over what happened in his head.

Grimm almost completely disappeared after the battle at Beacon. All small Grimm were gone, except for that time with Yang.

"Driver, did we pass the top of the hill yet?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

Karel shook his head. "No reason."

But he couldn't get it out of his head. Something was wrong.

Suddenly, the truck's roof was dented. The driver turned to the side of the road and got out. Karel sensed a nevermore outside the truck. He got out a pistol and gave it to Whitley, then jumped out. He saw the driver fire his rifle, but the nevermore shot out the feathers, killing the driver.

The other driver opened the door, but Karel used the force to keep her in the truck.

"Don't move."

The Nevermore fired its wing arrows at Karel, but he fired dust shots at them. It was rather easy to do it. He got more comfortable with the new tool and wanted to try out the shield. He pressed a button on the gauntlet, and it covered his hand. He clenched his hand, and out of it came a shield of fire.

"Awesome."

He then flicked another button that added the other three vials of dust to create an impenetrable shield. The Nevermore fired another arrow at him, but it died in its track when it hit the shield. Karel got out his blue lightsaber and used the force to jump in the air. He landed on the Nevermore's back and slammed his lightsaber into it. It cried, and tried to get him off, but Karel held on. He reverted the gauntlet to its gun mode and shot with everything he thought had left in the Nevermore.

He was thrown off, but he threw his purple lightsaber, cutting off its head. He landed on his knee with one hand outstretched to get his purple lightsaber. He stood up and used the force to get his blue lightsaber. He put away his two sabers and started to return to the truck to see six white fang members trying to get in.

* * *

Mercury was on the hill with Emerald. They were in control of four dead hunters, all killed by Cinder. They had a simple mission, kill the Schnee. He knew that the four dead hunters could talk, but they refused to.

"I need you all to do as I say." Mercury said

"Or what, you'll kill us?" One of them said. That was the first thing any of them had said since leaving Salem's realm.

"Salem could take away your gift at any time." Emerald said.

"What would you have us do?" One of them asked.

"Simple, we need to get that truck to stop moving, then kill everyone. The only one who needs to die is the Schnee, but he'll have guards. You can have them. We have a nevermore to get any Jedi out in the open. That's when we'll kill the kid. Remember to leave evidence that we're white fang."

"Anything else?" One of them said.

"No."

"Then let's do this."

* * *

Emerald had one important job, make them see white fang. They released the Nevermore and saw the Jedi. She used her semblance and ordered her people to move. They moved fast enough to get to the truck, but not fast enough to get it open before the Jedi got back.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

The first hunter got out a battle-axe and charged the Jedi.

"Merc, I know that guy. He's… Brent Maes?"

"That's not his real name. It's Karel Allusis. He said he's only a padawan after Beacon."

"Then he should be easy to kill. It's about time."

* * *

When Karel got back to the car six white fang members were trying to get into the Truck.

"What are you doing?" he asked

The tallest one, a guy with a battle-axe charged Karel. Karel got the gauntlet to shield mode before the axe could come down. He was trained. Must have been one of the elites he's been hearing about.

Karel got his blue lightsaber and cut at the man. He jumped up, avoiding getting cut in half. Karel force pushed the six back and very quickly changed the four vials of dust in his gauntlet. He fired a combined shot at the first one. The shot hit, and it seemed to kill the white fang member. The second one was a woman, a cat faunus like Blake. She charged Karel with twin pistols.

Karel jumped backwards and reflected a shot back at her. She rolled to the right and combined the two pistols to a hilt, then a sword came out.

"Cool" Karel said. The woman jumped and tried to smash the ground. Karel waited for the last second, and flipped backwards, kicking the woman in the face before landing. Karel started to run forward and slashed at the woman. The lightsaber went through the sword and cut the woman across the chest. She fell to the ground, dead.

The third one was a dust wielder. He threw pure dust daggers at Karel, which exploded right in front of him, but Karel got up his shield before the blast could have done any damage. The man threw another series of daggers at Karel, so he had to roll out of the way.

"I could use some help." Karel said to himself. He rolled behind a tree. Two fire dust daggers hit the bark on the other side and burst. The part of the tree that was still their caught-on fire. Karel quickly changed the vials of Dust then went back onto the road. The dust daggers hit his shield, blowing up until he heard a single bullet.

The other driver shot the man he was fighting in the head. She nodded and came close to Karel.

"I sent a code red to HQ. We should get some backup in a few minutes." She said.

"We still have three." Karel tossed his lightsaber above the top of the truck, where the fourth white fang member was jumping. The lightsaber hit him in the chest, but two grenades fell out of his hand.

The other driver pushed Karel out of the way and jumped on top of the grenades. Karel couldn't find the body. He got up and went to the back of the van and saw the other two he saw at the beginning. The first one pulled out pistols, and the other ran towards Karel. Karel stopped the first kick with the shield and tried to stab at the guy, but he was too fast, and he kicked the lightsaber out of Karel's hands.

"Not so fast Jedi." The guy said

"Who are you?" Karel asked

"You don't remember, we should be insulted." He hit Karel with a spinning round house kick. Karel hit the ground and rubbed his cheek. The woman fired at Karel, only for the shots to be absorbed by the shield. Karel was about to get his Purple lightsaber out when he felt a kick to the back. He was flung a few feet forward and landed at her feet. Just then she disappeared.

"What?" Karel asked.

The guy was standing in front of him now. He stomp-kicked Karel in the face. He continued to kick Karel as he was down. To make sure Karel couldn't follow them he stomped down on Karel's leg, breaking it.

He then bent down to Karel's face, now on the ground blooded and bruised, and picked up his head. "We want you to see this."

The woman kicked open the door. Whitley fired a shot, and he saw it hit her. Whitley put down the gun, but then she came out from behind the door, and withdrew her pistol. She took a few steps to Whitley, while he begged for her not to hurt him

"On your knees." She said. Whitley did as he was told.

"My father's a very rich man. He can make you richer than you ever believed possible. Just please don't kill me." He said that last part with tears in his eyes.

"Do you hear that? He's begging for his life." She came close to his ear. "What about my mother? She begged for her life. Twelve years ago, she worked in your mines. She was a loyal worker." She backed up "She was in your mines one day. The cave in already began to collapse. She'd rescued the rest of the miners, but she was left behind. Do you know what she cried?"

Whitley didn't say anything. She shook him, and he started to cry again

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE CRIED?!"

"No…" he whimpered

"Please, someone save me. For hours she cried in that cave, and no one came. Your father's men sent everyone away. They left my mother to die. YOUR FATHER LEFT MY MOTHER TO DIE! So, you know what I call this?"

"No…"

"revenge."

"NO PLEASE" Whitley couldn't finish. She put two bullets in his head, and to make sure he was dead she cut his throat. She turned around and looked at Karel. He saw her face uncovered.

"Emerald?" He asked.

"So, you do remember me. I'll tell you what. I won't kill you here. Your friend killed that guy who almost killed Cinder, Mercury and I, but next time, you won't be so lucky." She grabbed his bruised face and whispered to him

"Besides, I want a Jedi to tell the World that the Empire killed a Schnee." She scratched his face, drawing blood. She collected it. Mercury kicked him one more time and threw the lightsaber on his body.

"Pathetic" he spat at Karel.

* * *

After what felt like hours Karel was awoken up by a medical team. He couldn't see anyone, but he could feel Weiss nearby. She came to him when he was moving.

"Tell me it was a nightmare." He opened his eyes and saw hers red.

"No. Not again. Why do I always fail?" he asked. He closed his eyes again, and he could feel Weiss hug his chest. He heard her cry and his chest.

"They were too strong." He said, "The white fang were too strong." Karel fell back into unconsciousness. He didn't hear Weiss stop crying. He didn't see Whitley's body get bagged. He didn't see the look on Weiss' face after he went under.

* * *

Karel was on his ship. He was with his master flying to an island on a planet that he didn't know. They landed and got out.

"Young Jedi Allusis, it's time to learn another lesson. Come to the center of this island." Master Jade Yadder said. Karel followed her. The ship disappeared. He saw Jade Yadder stand looking at him.

"Lift this island." She told him

"Master?" Karel said

"Lift the island."

"I don't think…"

"None of that. Lift the Island"

Karel tried to lift the island. He was able to lift stones, but he couldn't lift the island. He collapsed to the ground, his face red and he looked at his master.

"I can't do it master."

"Let me tell you a secret Karel. Neither can I. Neither can Master Yoda, the council, or any number of Jedi. You seem to think that you must lift an island. If anyone dies, it's your fault. I guess the clone wars haven't taught you that lesson."

Karel felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Whitley there.

"You did the best you could. I don't blame you."

Karel felt tears on his face.

* * *

When news of Whitley's death reached the public, the calls for peace were once again silenced. Karel woke up hours later and gave an official report of the events that transpired. He told about the white fang attacking the truck, and the Grimm.

Winter came into Vale the next day to see Karel and say farewell to her little brother. Jacques Schnee came in and arranged a funeral. Karel went in a wheelchair with Bora pushing him around. The entire Schnee family went to give a final goodbye to Whitley.

"We weren't related, and sometimes we fought. We never really saw eye to eye, but I'm truly sorry. You were my brother." Karel said, unable to hide tears.

Jacques didn't blame him. Winter thanked him. Weiss some how grew closer to him.

"I couldn't save him." Karel said. Even though he saw his master, it still didn't help. He went over holocrons, especially the one his master left him, but it didn't bring him comfort.

Jacques was in Karel's room. They were alone, the first time in months. He was silent. Karel was silent. Then one broke the silence

"I miss him." Karel said "I can't believe that he's actually gone."

"Karel, son, I want you to know… I don't blame you for what happened."

"Why? I failed him, I failed you, I failed Weiss and Winter, and now because of my failure, all of Remnant is going to war."

"My son spoke to me after you saved Weiss' life the last time, and he came to me to tell me that he trusted you with his life. He told me that even if he died, he still considered you a brother. It's all he wanted for years and years, until you showed up. When you did the entire family became better than it was. Whitley told me that if he died in your care he would die with no regrets. It took me a while to think about all of that. Why would he accept that I wondered. Then the answer came to me. It was because of you."

Karel began to tear up, and Jacques held Karel.

"I have become a better father because of you."

* * *

Four days after the funeral, the declaration of war was written, and passed. The Second great war, the first major war in over one hundred years on Remnant, had begun.

The Remnant alliance, an alliance between Vale, Atlas, and Vacuoo, with many third-party allies on one side

The Remnant Empire, what was once the kingdom of Mistral, many smaller lands surrounding the continent, gangsters, a former terrorist group, Sith, and droids

Both manipulated by a third shadow party in the war, led by the mysterious Salem, with an army of Grimm, and the greatest killed warriors on Remnant.

It is now Year Zero, Month Zero, Day one.

 _ **Author's notes: So, the second great war has officially begun. The two sides lied to and made to fight to fulfill a secret goal.**_

 _ **Karel Allusis now has a target in this war**_

 _ **The Schnee family is no longer invulnerable.**_

 _ **With the new dating system, I no longer will be using the battle of Mistral as the chronological point I'll point to**_

 _ **I hope you all read the last author's notes, so you'd know why it took so long to post this.**_

 _ **Also in about a week we'll have Han Solo a star wars story.**_

 _ **May the force be with you**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerX12**_


	3. Chapter 2: Invasion Fleet

**Chapter 2**

 _ **Year 0 Month 0 day 05**_

 **With the declarations of war, the two sides have started the war.**

Empress Vox walked down a hall to the war room. She entered, and all the Generals and Admirals stood up.

"Empress is it time?" One of them ask. He was an Admiral, Admiral Lilo Gran. He was an older man, but an experienced one. He had a prosthetic eye, and arm. He was human, with only a small amount of hair in the top of his head, white from age. He wore a well-worn uniform.

"Admiral Gran, I otherize the invasion force." Vox said. Admiral Gran

"You will not be disappointed my Empress. Give me three hours and we'll be on the water."

"I already have the ships ready. They just need a leader. I have authorized a Sith to join you." Vox went to the computer and pulled up the picture of a sith Lord.

"This is Lord Watu. He is a sith pureblood. The Dark side flows through his veins. He has experience leading men. If any Jedi try to get in your way, he will stop them."

"Thank you, My Empress, for your gifts."

"They are not gifts. I expect victory." She turned to Gran. "And if you disappoint me, you will feel my wrath."

"I understand" Admiral Gran said. Vox could hear him gulp. He saluted her and left.

* * *

Gran got to the staging area and saw his fleet. He had never in his life seen a fleet as large as this one. He saw hundreds of small landing crafts, a dozen aircraft carriers, and over fifty warships.

When Gran got out he couldn't speak. He didn't notice a man come up behind him.

"So, you're the Admiral of the Fleet."

"Yes I am. Empress Vox has out done herself this time."

"Yes, she has. I don't know if she told you, but I am Lord Watu." Gran looked at him. He was surprised. Even though he saw a picture of him it didn't do justice. He was a head taller than Gran, and Gran wasn't short. His skin was blood red, and the tails that came off his face were covered in something that Gran hadn't seen before.

"They are from my tribe, they are honorary beads. Come, we have much to do."

"I'm sorry for staring, it's just you're so unique. I draw in my spare time, and if you'd be willing, I would like to draw your face."

"I must stop you there. We will not have free time for many months. We have to strategize."

"My apologies. Let's get on the Flagship, if we can find it." He looked at all the ships and couldn't see one that stood out as the lead. Watu didn't stop to look. He knew exactly where it was.

"There" He pointed at a ship. It was heavily armed, with what had to be a communication relay at the top. It was painted with a slight gold hue. It had RIS Unbroken on the side in gold. RIS Stands for Remnant Imperial Ship

The Docks were covered with people, some getting on ships, some saying fare wells to there loved ones.

"only a quarter of this invasion force is live. The rest is droid." Watu said

"To cut down on human cost" Gran said.

"Exactly, now let's get to the war room." Watu and Gran went to the Unbroken's war room. It was as large as the average warship's cabin, with a holographic map of the world.

"I believe that we should strike at Menagerie. Break the hold of the Red Fang and take over the island. It will be a large land grab, and we could show we care about the Faunus." Gran said.

Watu shook his head.

"The spy planes show that they have a large fleet stationed around the island. We want to punch through a weak point. That is why I put forth the city of Yoron. It has a small ten ship blockade, and then we can march into Vale's outer kingdom.

Yoron was a port city located on the eastern seaboard of Vale. It's closer to the bottom of Vale, but it is an important trade city. It's protected by large valleys and tall mountains. The city was close to a river, which led to many smaller settlements, towns, and other cities. Outside the city is a large meadow, with plants tall enough to hide people in.

"Yoron is of little importance to Vale. It won't send a message."

"If we take it then we will be on the mainland of Vale. I see very little symbol greater than that."

An imperial officer entered the war room and handed Gran a report.

"Thank you. From now on, make a copy of any reports."

"Yes sir." The officer gave Gran a salute. Gran saluted back, and the officer left.

"We just got news from Recon Zero. It looks like Menagerie wouldn't be the best place to invade anymore. They can send a report to the alliance in seconds. The invasion will be known in seconds. Looks like Yoron will be where we launch." Gran said. Satisfied, Watu turned back to the map. Gran went over the radio of all the ships

"Set your coordinates to Yoron."

* * *

The captain of the Mathais was standing on deck. His small blockade force had been able to send back some unsavory pirates, but besides that it was rather boring. He pulled out a cigarette and started to smoke when he heard someone call for him

"Captain! Come look at this!" The first mate said.

"What is it?"

"It says that there are hundreds of crafts coming towards us."

"Let me take a look at that" He said. He went to the Radar and he confirmed that many ships were coming.

"Get someone to check on that." He ordered.

Someone opened the door.

"Captain. The Invasion force has arrived." Only moments after those words were spoken, everyone could hear blasts fire from enemy cannons. The captain looked at the other ships, and one was hit, the Chaplet was hit, and starting to sink.

"Fire back!" the nine remaining ships fired one valley each before the response.

* * *

Gran asked for damages

"One of the destroyers were hit, and its guns is no longer functioning." Reported an officer.

"Move the Spark up and get that ship out of range. Send some of our faster ships out to try and board." Watu barked.

"The Spark alone could destroy those remaining ships, why are you using it to take hits?" Gran asked

"Don't waste ships. Send ten of our battleships out to try to get them to budge. Send the Hurricane out to the left to circle behind our enemies. Send four corvettes to guide the ship to its location and do the same with the Fidget." Watu ordered

His orders were followed, and the Mathais tried to fend off the ships coming in close.

"All warships, FIRE!" Gran ordered. He watched as four more enemy ships were sunk. The Mathais got a lucky shot it and destroyed the hull of one of the corvettes.

"They actually sunk a ship of ours. Let's make them pay for that.

"Agreed. All ships, Fire at the Mathais!"

* * *

The captain of the Mathais looked at his enemies as four of his ships were sunk.

"Captain, the enemy is sending two warships to Port and Starboard. They are accompanied by four corvette ships. What are your orders?"

"Fire on the corvette closest to us. We don't have time to waste shots."

"We've got them in our sights sir."

"Fire!" the Mathais fired at a corvette, and its haul was pierced. The ship was taking in water, and it began to sink. The crew cheered as it sank into the water.

"Sir, their guns are locked on us."

"How many?"

"All of them."

No one spoke. They all knew what was going to happen next.

"Abandon Ship!" the captain ordered. Some crew got up and four lifeboats were even launched, but the founds came. The ship exploded, and most of the crew was killed instantly. The captain was among them.

The remaining ships of the blockade went into disarray. The warships destroyed the remaining ships in minutes, all except one. The guns on the last ship were destroyed, but it still floated. A boarding party boarded the ship and captured the crew.

The first battle of the second great war was finished in minutes, with the Empire's first victory. The Ships all started to dock, and the troops left the ship. The guards in Yoron fought back, but they stood no chance. The city was fully taken in under an hour.

* * *

 **Year 0 Month 0 Day 6**

After the battle, the city of Yoron was renamed to New Mistral. The invasion force was now in Vale, and this caused alarm in the Alliance meeting.

"They're in Vale. The enemy is in Vale. We need to get our forces out of Vytal. It's obvious that Vox didn't plan on invading it. It was a diversion." Cried one of Vale's councilmen.

"We did what we thought would leave us in the best position. We had ten ships at Yoron. We weren't expecting them to send an invasion fleet that large. No force we have currently can take out that fleet." A Vacuoo councilmen said.

"Let's take a second to think rationally, the area around Yoron is covered by valleys and mountains. They can't get to a good strategic place to attack us." One of Vale's generals said

"Who here has fought in a war before." Jedi Master Roni asked. Roni is one of the few Jedi on Remnant that were from the other galaxy. She was a Jedi master before Order 66, who fled with her apprentice, Vuren. She was asked to go to the meeting by the Grandmaster.

Like she expected, no one rose their hand. Remnant hadn't had a war in over one hundred years.

"Well I have. I will have you know that this is exactly what the empire wants us to do. They want to split us into sides. This isn't an election, this is war. So, get all that Kriffing bickering out of here. This is how we end up getting people killed. We have a natural defensive wall that we can protect. If we don't then they have access to us. We need to stop them from moving in."

"How are we going to do that?"

"There is a city, Pear, which is at the perfect defensive spot. We have it under our control, and it's a self-sufficient city. They have everything they could need, and it's at the exact center of the only road that leads from Yoron to Vale. We go on the defensive until we can mount a counter attack."

"That would be too costly to send a large force to Pear. We can only send in people from the air.

"Then built a droid factory outside the city." Roni sat back in her chair

"I like the idea." Ironwood said.

"I think it is a good Idea. I can round up some hunters and send them to the city." Ozpin said.

"I'll see if we can send a Jedi or two to the city" Roni added.

"I guess that we're all in agreement than? Let's go with the Jedi's plan" the Atlas councilman said. They all agreed and got up.

Roni stopped Ozpin and Ironwood before they left the room.

"I want to talk to you both."

"You have our ears."

"Don't send anyone into Yoron. It is going to be the most heavily defended city. For now, consider it a part of the empire. If you don't then we will throw away lives. The master asked me to remind you that the Jedi order is quite small, even with the twenty new padawans. We number under eighty. We can't win this war alone. We must stick together. I do thank you both for helping my order, but we need to take care of ourselves."

"Of course." Ozpin said.

"I need you to swear that you won't go."

"You have my word. My word is my bond." Ozpin said.

"I would follow your lead no matter what." Ironwood said.

"Thank you." Ozpin walked away, but Ironwood didn't.

"Yes?" Roni asked.

"You fought in a war. If you would, I would appreciate if you would tell me some stories. It may be beneficial to learn from the only veteran." Ironwood said. "We… could even do it over some coffee?"

Roni smiled.

"Are you trying to flirt with me?"

"No, no, I like to think that you could teach me somethings that could help me lead. Truth is that I haven't been in a real battle that wasn't against mindless Grimm. You on the other hand, you have lived through an entire war. I could learn a thing or two from you."

Roni didn't point out that he just repeated himself. He was nervous.

"We're both busy, but I'll see if I can find time." She started to walk away "Oh and by the way, I don't like coffee."

* * *

Karel read the newspaper and read the headline about Yoron.

"I feel so useless being stuck here. My leg's a lot better now." He tried to get up from his wheelchair, but he fell.

"No, you're not better. And you won't be if you keep on moving like that." Bora said. She picked him up and sat him back in the wheelchair.

"I also hate having to be babied. I'm a Jedi knight." He said

"Well Jedi knight, even Jaune could beat you right now."

"Hey, that's rude." Karel said. "I could still beat him." He whispered. Bora smiled. She went into her desk and pulled out a bacta bandage.

"How long have you had that?" Karel asked

"Since I sacked the star destroyer's medical wing. I thought that we could use it."

"Please put it on my leg."

"This should heal you as if a week passed. I have about thirty others, so in a few day's you can be good as ever." She put the bandage on his leg, and Karel immediately felt better.

"Thanks" He said

"We need you to be good as ever."

"Yeah, I have a war to fight." He said.

"You mean we have a war to fight. Wherever you go I go." Bora placed her hand on Karel's face. "except for the shower."

"I don't smell that bad."

"You could have fooled me." Bora said. She pushed him to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

"You know, this reminds me of something." Vuren said. She walked into the room as Bora walked out of the bathroom.

"What does this remind you of?"

"Nothing. So, where is he?"

"He smells."

"NO, I DON'T" he said from the bathroom.

* * *

 **Year 0 Month 0 Day 08**

"Report 1: It's two days after we landed in Vale, and we have a firm grip on the land. Last night a hunter, with thirty others tried to assassinate me, but they were discovered and all eventually killed, except for the hunter. The hunter refuses to tell me who sent him. I've already broken most of him. Lord Watu got some information out of him, nothing useful. The hunter says that he's here alone. We're going to publicly execute him tomorrow. If he is rescued, then it shows that he was lying. If he doesn't, then we have one less pest." Gran spoke into a recorder.

"Sir, the Empress wants an update." An imperial captain said.

"Patch her in."

"Already done." At a comm in Gran's room appeared a hologram of Empress Vox

"What do you have to update?" Vox said.

"I just recorded my first update. I'll send it to you after we end. We have taken the city of Yoron." He said

"I know this. I also know that you have Alliance prisoners."

"I do. They can be a bargaining chip. We have sixty troops, and when we lose our first battle, we can get the survivors back."

"Or you could execute the prisoners or enslave them."

"I have them working already. I would suggest in not killing them just yet. We should leave them in reserve so if the Alliance ever kills prisoners we'll have justification to kill them, or we can get people back."

"Send me one tenth of the prisoners. I have some experiments I would like to perform on them."

"Yes, my Empress." Gran said. Vox ended the call. Gran sent her the report and called for one of his underlings.

"Yes sir." The person he called for said.

"What is your name?"

"Cella Raye." She said. Cella was a human woman, about twenty, tall, the definition of proper, with red hair.

"Well, Cella, you are going to pick six prisoners and take them to the Corvette Goodwin. What is your rank?"

"Petty officer First Class."

"I promote you to senior chief petty officer. After you take the six to Goodwin, take enough droids to take that ship back to Mistral. I'll do all the paperwork, but I need these prisoners to be taken as quickly as possible." Gran said

"Yes sir, Thank you sir." She went to check on the prisoners and chose six, all but one were men. The woman was a faunus, while the men were mixed.

She did as she was told and started on her trip back to Mistral.

"Who wants the prisoners?" Cella asked herself.

* * *

 **Year 0 Month 0 Day 09**

Cella woke up and was being tugged by an imperial ship. She looked around the cabin she was in and saw white fang, and elite troops everywhere.

"What's happening?" She asked

"You're going to meet with the Empress." One of them said.

Cella felt the blood drain from her face.

"What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. It's because you're doing what she asked. She wants to personally thank you." The troop said.

Time passed, and the ship stopped. A Helicopter landed on the deck, and Empress Vox came out of it. Everyone kneeled, including Cella. Vox walked up to Cella and looked at her.

"I see you are the one who's delivering my present. I thank you, now I have a helicopter with your name on it." Vox showed Cella the helicopter, and two troops grabbed her brought her on board. The Helicopter flew away.

Vox smiled and went below deck to examine the new specimens. She needed to get all the rust off her alchemy. She looked at her specimens. She stopped at the woman.

"You are going to be prefect." The woman looked at Vox and she could only see death in her eyes.

 _ **Author's notes: The first battle has been completed. I'd like to thank Google and for this chapter. Without these I would have been completely lost.**_

 _ **The war has started in full now.**_

 _ **Everything is going to get worse before it gets better.**_

 _ **Remember, I'm still taking OCs.**_

 _ **I hope you like this one.**_

 _ **May the Force be with you**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	4. Chapter 3: Skirmish at Zolon

**Chapter 3**

 **Date: Year 0 Month 0 Day 20**

 **The Empire has a stronghold in the kingdom of Vale, the city of New Mistral. The naval invasion force was the largest in decades seen on the face of Remnant. The city fell quickly.**

Ironwood stepped into the room seeing Roni holding a folder. She threw it at the feet at Ironwood, the picture of a hunter came out. Jet Skyler, a mid thirties hunter from Atlas. He wasn't anything that stood out as special, but that might be a part of the problem.

"I told you no hunters in Yoron. Not even an hour after I tell you that, he's off to go kill as many imperials as he could."

"I had nothing to do with him."

"He took with him three squads of atlesian troops. All dead. Public execution for Jet. This is why I told you to not get your guys involved in this. Who will answer for their deaths?"

"We will avenge their deaths. I must say I'm surprised that you're talking like that?" Roni stopped talking and shook her head.

"I'm not thinking clearly. After the Clone Wars I was…"

"War has the ability to break someone."

"But I'm not just someone, I'm a Jedi."

"Anyone can break. And since you're the brains behind the war right now, the stress is going to push you."

"I know… let's focus back on the next battle." Roni brought up a hologram if remnant and circles a small village. She moves the map up close to it.

"We should move a Jedi to this location." Roni said

"The town of Zolon" Ironwood read out

"Which one?"

"I have an idea."

"Who?"

* * *

Roni walked down the halls of the Jedi temple. Karel was beginning to be able to walk again.

"Master Roni." He said.

"It's good to see you're walking. Have you seen Ruby around here?"

"She's in the training room with Yang."

"Thank you." Roni went into the training room and saw Yang using her old master's lightsaber.

"Master Roni. I was just practicing with Ruby." Yang said

"That's fine. I actually wanted to speech to the both of you."

"What do you want from us?" Yang asked

"I have a mission for the two of you. The Town of Zolon is going to be attacked, very soon. I want you two to defend the town long enough for all the citizens to flee."

"We'd be up against the empire. We'd be killing." Ruby said.

"I know it's not the best option, but it's the only one where innocent people don't die."

"Then why do you need the two of us? Yang asked

"Because I can't be there. I must run the war here. Karel is too injured to be in a battle, and most of the other Jedi are either fighting, or are stuck here like me."

Yang looked at Ruby then she shook her head. "I'll go."

"Thank you."

"If She's going then I will too"

"Thank you."

"Master, one more thing. Our team should all be going."

"You would have to get that done. You have till tomorrow. We sent a few droids to slow down any scouts, but that won't stop them forever."

"I understand."

* * *

Ruby was the first one to enter their room. Blake was there with Bora. She was looking at a map of Remnant.

"Zolon is in the way. So are the towns of Neldor, Foret, and Vala. The Empire isn't going to get to Pare for a few months." Bora explained

"Um… about that, Blake…"

"Don't tell me they fell."

"No, not yet, but we're going to defend Zolon. We want all of Team RWBY to be there. We are strongest when we are together."

"We'd have to fight anyways. I'm in." Blake said.

"Now we just need to get Weiss to join us. Where is she Blake?"

"I don't know."

Weiss walked into the room.

"I just got off the phone with my sister. She's going back to atlas to be the leader of Defense. Politics. So why is everyone here?"

"Weiss, we're going to the frontlines. We have to defend the town of Zolon." Ruby said

"For how long?"

"Hours most likely. Just long enough to get the people out of the way of the fighting."

"So we're ready to lose."

"Yeah." Blake answered. Blake got her weapon ready. "But it's our job as huntresses to defend those who can't defend themselves. Our job calls us to go to the frontlines, so we go."

"Even in the face of danger." Ruby said

"Wither it's Grimm or anything else that threatens humanity" Yang added

"And we do it without complaint, without reward. We do what is right because it is right." Weiss ended

* * *

 **Day 21**

The next day, Team RWBY went to the shipyards. It has been turned into a military base, and it's been moving troops back and forth. Jedi were given ships, about the size of Karel's ship. They had a small crew for each of them. Ruby and Yang went to the officer at the entrance and showed their lightsabers, and the orders they got.

"We have a ship ready for you. Are these two with you, Jedi?"

"Yes." Yang answered.

"I'll send the information to the ship crew. You have ship 09-22-28, in dock B." the officer opened the gates. Two soldiers came and escorted team RWBY to the ship.

"The code is 032630. Follow what the crew say after that." The soldiers leave

There was a keypad. Ruby put in the passcode and the door came down. Ruby went up the ramp and saw crew members moving back and forth.

One of them finally noticed the team.

"Welcome aboard Team RWBY. Go to the cockpit to talk to our captain."

Yang walked to the cockpit

"Hello, Jedi. I am the captain, and for the next day I will be the one who you talk to."

"Why are you all acting like this?" Ruby asked

"Like what?"

"Cold, demanding, cut off."

"We're soldiers. We fight and die. We have to be cut off."

The captain pulled out a scroll and punched numbers in. "I suggest that you get to your seats. We'll be at the site in two hours."

Everyone takes a seat, and the ship takes off. The ride was mostly quiet, with periodic commands coming over the comms.

"Crew enter into landing phase." The captain called out.

No words were spoken, and the crew went right to work.

"Members of Team RWBY, we are going to be dropping you off over the town. Get ready to jump."

Yang smiled, but the other girls looked at each other.

"How far is the drop?"

"Don't worry, it's about 50 feet above the trees." Ove of the crew said.

"Great." Weiss whispered.

They went to the door, and it opened. Ruby looked out.

"Don't fall to far behind." Yang said. She jumped off and started her freefall. Blake was next.

"I hate falling." Weiss said as she jumped out. Ruby was last, landing next to her sister.

* * *

They jumped right next to the gates of Zolon. Two guards pointed guns at the team.

"Identify yourselves!" The first one barked.

"We're the Jedi." Ruby yelled back

"By the Gods you're here. Get in here."

The gates were opened, and they went in the town. It wasn't anything spectacular. The town had no building over four stories tall, but it did have a marketplace visible from the entrance.

"Go to the largest building, the mayor would like to talk with you." The guard told them.

The town seemed to be built around the fountain. Many of the buildings were attached, except for the market tents. Some were empty, but others were still selling. Ruby could feel the fear in the people still here. The stonework went around the fountain. Weiss noted that the fountain split in two directions, with two small bridges.

"I think we could use those to our advantage." She whispered to Blake.

"I've already come up with seven different plans on how we could defend this place." She told Weiss.

"Let's not talk about that yet." Yang said

"And here we are." Ruby walked up to the building. Its doors were larger than average, but not too much larger. Ruby went in first and she saw people walking back and forth. One of the aids saw Ruby, and the lightsaber and greeted her.

"Hello, are you the Jedi that are going to help us?" The aid asked.

"Yes" Ruby said

"Follow me, the mayor needs to see you."

"Alright." The group go down the hall of the building. It was laid out in a long rectangle width wide. They walked to the center most room in the building. The aid opened the door and the mayor was standing with advisors, and an Alliance Captain.

"Mrs. Mayor, we have to get these people out of here. Once the Jedi arrive, we'll be able to send in a ship to collect everyone." The captain said.

The Mayor was sitting in her chair, obviously stressed.

"The Jedi are here." Yang said. The Captain turned and looked at the team.

"You're kids."

"Hey! We are huntresses in training, and half of us are Jedi!" Yang said

"Half? They sent two Jedi kids, and their friends. Are we already spread this far out?" He said. He sat down in the chair.

"Thirty! That's how many droids the alliance is sending to defend the town! We only have twenty people who are going to stay here to defend the place. That's what I'm dealing with." The mayor said.

"So including the four of us, that's fifty four people fighting against the force of the Empire." Blake said

"Yeah."

"Then we better do this evacuation soon."

"Agreed" the captain said.

* * *

The meeting finished soon after, and Ruby went to one of the hotels in the town that is being used by the military. She started to meditate, and saw a flash of red. She broke out of her meditation, but she couldn't see like normal, but she could see that red.

"What is this?" The world around her was a grayish tint except for that red. She crashed into the door. She took a second to get adjusted to this new kind of seeing and realized that it wasn't that hard to figure what everything was. She got out of the building and followed the red she saw. It was staying still in the market area. As she got closer to the red, the real world came back to her eyes. She kept walking to the red until she ran into Yang.

"Ruby, what are you doing?"

"I sense something." She said.

Ruby finally got to the red. It was a person. The red went into the person, but a vision came to Ruby. Flashes of this person. She saw something frightening about him.

Ruby used the force and grabbed the man. She threw him against a building and held him there. She walked to the man, still holding him to the wall.

"Ruby! What are you doing?" Yang asked

"He's a spy."

She walked up to him and pulled out an imperial military ID. She let the man go and threw the card to Yang. She caught it and knew immediately what it was.

A few weeks before the war, information about the empire came to the Alliance headquarters about new imperial identification that could pass off for Alliance ID, except for a few key differences.

"Where are they?" Ruby asked.

"They'll be here tomorrow." The Spy said. Police came and after an explanation, arrested the spy.

With the information given by the spy, the need to evacuate became a priority to the alliance. They sent a ship later and started to evacuate the town. The alliance dropped off ten additional soldiers.

Ruby and Yang took command of the defense and meditated through the night.

* * *

 **Day: 22**

The morning sun was starting to come above the trees when Ruby and Yang both ended their meditation. Yang sent a signal to all the troops that it was time. They got in position and got ready. Ruby got out Crescent Rose in sniper mode. She looked thought the scope. She waited, took in a breath, then fired. She was aided by the force, and the outcome was one dead imperial.

A loud war cry was heard throughout the forest.

The imperials were getting to the very edge of the forest and started firing. Ruby and Yang jumped down from the tops of the guard posts right before they were blown to bits.

"They have rockets!" Ruby said. Just then, the gates to the town were blown off. Ruby went in one of the houses and got and fired a few more shots.

Yang jumped into battle, rushing up to the enemy. The smoke from the blast still covered the area, so Yang was able to sneak up on the first few imperials. She killed one after he was hit by a sucker punch so hard, it snapped his neck.

Weiss waited in the house with three troops.

"When they get in the town, you'll open fire at them, I'll need some time to get everything ready." Weiss said.

"Yes sir."

Weiss knew it was now or never. She had to summon it.

The smoke dissipated, leaving Yang exposed to a barrage of attacks. She still hadn't gotten her lightsaber out yet. She punched one imperial who was trying to stab her. She was shot in the back and absorbed the hit. She turned around and backhanded the attacker. She killed him.

She knew she wouldn't last long with all the imperials firing at her. She got out her lightsaber and reflected the shots back. Only one hit someone.

Blake waited for the enemy to get in the town. She saw Yang get back in the gates and hide behind cover. Yang nodded to Blake.

The first imperial got passed the gates, only to be met by a bullet between the eyes. More filed in. There were at least 30 imperials in the entrance to the town, walking right into the trap.

"Now!" Ruby called over her comm. All the troops fired at the imperials. The first wave was wiped out in seconds. The Second wave was much harder.

The imperials fired rockets and mortars at the houses. The house Weiss was in was hit, but Weiss was on the second floor. All the others in the house were dead.

"Come on! Just for once I need this to work!" The glyph was appearing. First it was a hand, then the sword, then finally, the knight came out.

"Yes!" Weiss said. She went down to the first floor and saw the dead on the ground.

"This isn't good."

Weiss' knight became the focus of attention for the imperials. They fired more rockets at it, but that didn't stop it. It swung its sword over the gates, into a line of imperials. All who were hit were killed.

Weiss went into the streets and saw what her summon was doing. It didn't stop the imperials from entering the town. Now that everyone had its eyes on the summon, more people were getting killed.

Two imperials burst into the house Ruby was in and fired at the troops. Ruby went down the stairs as fast as possible. That didn't stop the last of the troops in the house from getting slaughtered. Six troops were killed, that was one tenth of the entire defense. Ruby got out her lightsaber and powered it up.

The hilt was long, and almost looked like a baton used for twirling. The light that came out from it was a pinkish red. The hilt was made from the same materials Ruby used to make her Crescent Rose. The imperials stopped what they were doing and looked at her. That was the last thing they could see. Ruby ran quickly and cut the imperials down.

Ruby knew she needed to be out in the fight. It was more emphasized when the roof came crashing down. She rolled out of the building, in front of a squad of imperials. She didn't take a second to think before cutting them down. She turned her lightsaber off and got out her scythe.

Blake rushed an imperial and shot them. They fell to the ground with a thud. She then threw her blade into the armor of an imperial. She didn't know if that killed the imperial or not, so she tugged on the rope of her blade. The imperial fell to the ground.

"Dead." She said. One of the troops was running over to where Blake was, but was killed before they could get to her. They were holding a bag. She quickly ran over to it and grabbed the bag. In it were dust explosives. She had an idea.

The second wave of imperials were fended off, but the entrance to the town was destroyed. The surviving defenders went to the market area. Blake placed the explosives under both bridges, and in some houses.

The Imperials hadn't yet destroyed the summon, but that changed quickly. The third wave of Imperials had a Tank. It made quick work of the knight.

"They got a tank." One of the remaining town guards called out.

The tank fired at the wall, destroying part of it. In a few seconds, it did the same thing to the other wall. The Tank then drove into the town. It was a large tank. It didn't have wheels, but hover tech. It fired a shot at the fountain, blowing it up, and sending bits of concrete out. Some pieces hit the defenders. Three were killed by it. Ruby knew only her, or Yang could destroy the tank.

"Yang. I'm going to go around the town and attack the tank from the back. I need you to keep fighting back here."

"Don't get spotted. If you do you know what'll happen." Yang said

"I know." Ruby got from her hiding spot and used her semblance to quickly get to where she needed to be. The tank fired again at some of the houses. The other imperials moved forward into the town. Ruby ran into a few of them, but they didn't realize that before getting cut down.

Ruby rushed the corner and saw the tank. It fired another shot, this time hitting a small group retreating into the town hall building. Four died, with six others gravely injured. Ruby jumped on top of the tank and used her lightsaber to cut herself an opening. Droids were piloting the tank. One turned around.

"Intruder!" Was all it got to say before Ruby cut them down. Luckily, they loaded a last shot. Ruby went to the wheel and turned the tank around. The force told her which button to press, and she fired into the forest.

The shot hit another tank that was coming up. The second tank blew up, but there were still imperials coming. Ruby grabbed a dust explosive and placed it on the control panel. She got out of the tank and went into one of the bombed-out houses. The Imperials started to fire at the tank, but when it didn't fire back, they went inside the tank. Ruby pressed the detonation button she had, killing more Imperials. They weren't through yet. They spotted Ruby and fired at her. She did her best to block the bullets, but there were too many. She was getting hit, with her clothes taking most of the damage. Weiss Sent a large Ice Spike towards the Imperials, impaling four, and creating a wall to protect her and Ruby.

"Looks like your cape's going to need to be replaced, and your sleeves." Weiss looked over how much dust she had left. It wasn't much. She probably could only do something big like he ice one more time. Ruby got up, with some blood coming from where she had been shot. Her aura was low.

"We need to get you away from the front lines." Weiss said

"That's a good Idea. I can still fight from the town hall." She got to the building and got ready.

Blake stood next to Weiss. "How much longer can this thing stand?"

"Not much longer. How many are left?"

"Twenty two."

"And Yang?"

"taking on a squad that thought it could go around this."

"Do we know how many more imperials there are?"

"No. It can't be that many at this point. This is only a small town, don't need to send a whole army just to take it."

The ice barrier started to crack. A chunk fell in front of Weiss and she used it to boost herself in the air. She landed behind the imperials and stabbed one. She took her sword out of the body and fired a large bolt of fire twenty imperials were caught in the blaze. Blake started to attack the bewildered front. Ruby gave a hand attacking from a far, and they made quick work of the forth Wave.

They left some imperials alive and started to question them.

"How many more are coming to this town?" Yang asked

"We were only the beginning." The highest-ranking Imperial said.

"When will they be here?"

"They were three hours behind us. Our little fight was just a distraction."

Yang went to work immediately. She got to the Alliance and called for a ship to pick them up.

"We have an hour before a ship can get us. How long was the fight?"

"Over an hour. At least an hour and a half." Weiss said.

"We're going to be cutting it close. Get everything ready." Yang said.

The hour passed uneasily. Two ships came down from the air. One landed and was getting filled. The second couldn't touch the ground before getting shot down. The Imperials made it to the town. Ruby's aura was better, so she started to get ready to fight, but the remaining defenders stopped anyone from team RWBY from joining the fight again. Four went on the ship, and the ship lifted off. They were able to leave the area, but the others were killed in a few minutes. The empire had taken Zolon.

* * *

Team RWBY was taken back to the command station to give a report of the fight. Roni took the report

"And we were the only ones to get out of the town" Ruby said

"Did all of the residents get out of the town?"

"Yes, but the empire has the town." Yang said

"We all knew that they were going to get it eventually. We've had to spread thin defending other places from the empire."

"So what we did was pointless?"

"No, it affects the empire, they lost at least two hundred at that fight. It's something they won't forget."

"That's because we had Jedi at the battle, and they didn't" Weiss said

"Yes, that is true, but now they won't under estimate us anymore." Roni dismissed the girls.

Roni went back to her command center. Ironwood walked in with a drink.

"That's another lose. We need to pull a victory out somewhere." He handed the drink to Roni. She took a sip. Whiskey.

"Are you trying to get me drunk?"

"I think you can handle it." He takes out a flask and drinks from that.

"I think I have the idea. We have reverse engineered a squad of tie bombers."

"We would need a target. We aren't going to bomb a populated city, and we have yet to find an Imperial Base that we could safely bomb." Ironwood said

"But that is where you are wrong. My sources have found an imperial droid factory. It is on one of the many islands of Anima. It is far enough away that we are able to attack it and get out before they can get a defense for."

"That might be a good idea. How quickly can we get that squad out there?"

"I can get a team out there by the end of the week." Roni put a marker on the map of Remnant to where the factory was.

"Let's set this up."

* * *

Ruby went to Karel after reporting to Roni. They were in the Jedi temple's Library

"Karel, when I was at Zolon, I saw something. The world around me was a greyish blue, except for a red dot always in my sight. I chased the dot and found out it was a spy. What was it?"

Karel thought hard about it. He got up and went to a book.

"This journal has a section about that. I found this a week ago. The Jedi called it heart searching. A terrible name, but accurate. It can search the intentions of the person you're searching. It's rare, and sometimes it's happens on random. This journal has only six incidents of it, and it goes over a ten-year span."

"So, I may not see that again for years?"

"That is what I'm saying. Don't worry about it. It will be okay." Karel put the book back and went looking for another.

"What are you looking for now?" Ruby asked

"I'm looking for a book to work on a theory I have."

"What's the theory?"

"Why Aura exists in this world only. I've traveled to dozens of planets, studied at the Jedi temple, but I have never heard of Aura before this planet. This is going to take a while. I suggest you getting a new pair of clothes."

Karel picked up a book and opened it up. He glanced over a poem.

"Strange… This poem doesn't make sense in basic." Karel closed it and put it in a bag that he had.

Ruby left the library. She went to her room and she started to meditate. Yang walked in and grabbed Ruby.

"I need you for a few hours." Yang said. Yang grabbed Ruby and took Karel's ship.

"I think you should ask Karel before stealing his ship." Ruby said.

"I already asked. I want to take you to a special person." Yang flew to the grey Jedi temple. She took Ruby to the robemaker.

"Can you make a set of robes for my sister?" Yang asked the old robemaker.

"I shall make the robes, but I need her to have show me what she sees."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Meditate, and then you shall see the robe that you shall wear."

Ruby started to meditate.

 _ **Author's notes: Thanks for reading, and sorry for taking so long. I'm at college now, at during the summer I had little to no time to do things. Thanks again for staying and reading. I hope that you can understand.**_

 _ **I hope that you'll stay and continue to read this story.**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	5. Chapter 4: Bombing Run

**Chapter 4**

 **Year 0 Month 0 Day 26**

 **Roni and Ironwood organized an airstrike at an imperial droid factory. The tie bombers were getting ready for their first mission.**

Roni was walking examining the pilots getting ready. They were all in the ships, waiting for the call to launch. She knew that this mission would be a moral booster that could change the view of the war to the public. She even considered for a moment taking a bomber for herself and leading the charge, but she knew that could get her killed, and the only chance of winning the war with it. She feared what would happen if she was killed in action this early on.

Ozpin walked up to Roni.

"You are deep in thought, Roni. Worried about this mission?"

"No, it's nothing. Let's just get this mission completed." Roni knew that this would be an important mission, and that she would need to be focused on it.

* * *

The time came, and all the pilots started the mission. Roni and the others in command would have contact with the squadron the entire time. The pilots flew over the ocean without any problems.

"We'll be in bombing range within twenty minutes." The lead pilot proclaimed.

"Cut all unneeded chatter. The factory will have a strong defense system."

The pilots stopped talking. They got to right over the factory and launched the first volley of bombs.

The bombs fell to the factory, but it was shielded.

"Command, enemy factory is shielded."

"What?" Roni asked herself. If they had the shields up that means…

"Fire Squadron, do you see any enemy snub fighters?"

"Negative… Wait we see one"

Roni knew that the mission was going too smoothly.

"Do you have the callsign of the enemy ship?" Roni asked.

One of the pilots answered back.

"I'm reading Recon Zero." Roni looked confused.

"A simple recon ship? Why would the empire only send one?"

The bombers took a second run at the factory, putting more stress on the shield. It would only be a few more runs until the shield was down completely.

Cap was at the helm of the ship, being its only captain in the year it's been in use. This would be the first test against enemy ships.

"Misty, get up here. Send the others to battle position." She called out.

Misty went to the co pilot seat, after telling her new squad mates to man the guns.

"We're going to engage the enemy squadron. I've studied this kind of ship. They're slow but have a powerful gun. Attack the connector to the wing, and the whole thing goes down. I need you to take control of the guns while I do some fancy flying."

"Got it." Misty grabbed the controls that were in front of her.

"Fire Leader engage the enemy fighter. The factory will be there once Recon Zero is gone."

"Orders received." Fire leader locked onto the recon ship and turned to engage. He sent out missiles to make quick work of enemy, but Recon Zero shot out flares. Recon Zero then sped passed the bomber, sending a few missiles of its own. The missiles hit, but they didn't destroy the ship.

"Fire 4 and 7, cover me. Everyone else, continue the bombing run."

"Yes sir"

Two tie bombers started to move to where the squad leader was, but they never got there. Recon Zero shot both ships down with ease.

"Watch out for that ship. It's more dangerous than it looks."

Roni watched as the two tie bombers were shot down. She realized it was a trap.

"We have picked up four more enemy signals." Fire 8 said.

"The Navy?" Roni wondered.

"Recon 1 through 4 sir."

They walked right into the trap. With the fire power of Recon Zero, four more of them would make quick work of the ties.

"Fire Squadron, retreat, it's a trap!" Roni yelled.

Four more ships appeared out of the clouds, and dive bombed at fire squadron. Fire leader fired a pair of ion torpedoes at Recon four. One of them hit, but that seemed to be enough. The ship lost power and was plummeting towards the ground.

"Fire squadron, this is fire leader, use ion Torpedoes."

"acknowledged"

Fire 10 shot out the torpedoes, but they missed. Recon 3 came back and destroyed the tie.

"Fire Squadron Turn back now! This is an order!" Roni yelled. Fire squadron knew what this mission meant to the alliance. If they could destroy the factory, they would be able to damage the output of droids, slowing down the war machine of the empire, and giving the alliance the first victory, it so desperately needed. They ignored the order

Fire 3 and 6 were destroyed right after starting another bombing run. Recon 2 fired at fire 12, destroying it. Fire leader took the fight to Recon Zero, but Cap was a formidable opponent.

"Misty, send up a flare to blind the bomber following us." Cap did a corkscrew to avoid a bomb heading her way.

"Alright sir, but next time warn me when we do stunts." Misty fired the flare. Fire leader flew right into it. He was blinded, and his equipment started to malfunction.

"Checkmate" Cap said, but she was hit by a shot from fire 2.

"A hero. Let's repay him." Cap turned the ship around and chased after the bomber. She fired a missile at its wing, breaking it off. The pilot started to tumble towards the ground, spinning the whole way down

"Recon 2, chase after the bomber I was just fighting, it's the squadron leader." Cap called

"Copy that" Recon two followed fire leader.

The remaining bombers made a run at the factory, and the shield withstood the abuse for another round.

"I've got you in my sights." Cap said. Misty fired at the last bomber, bomber 11, taking it down easily.

* * *

Roni wanted to send a rescue squadron, but she knew they wouldn't get there in time. She clenched her fist. She wished Yang and Ruby were back to help them. Roni watched as fire lost most of its members this early on. Only five of its members were still alive.

"Fire Squadron, if you do not leave now you will all die."

"Sir, we are ready to give our lives as long as we can take this factory down."

Fire leader knew he was being followed, but he still couldn't see quite that well. Some of his instruments were completely fired as well. He turned his ship around and knew the only way he would leave this life right now. Recon 2 wasn't ready for fire leader to fly right towards them. The pilot froze up and crashed head on into fire leader. Both ships started to fall, or what was left of them.

Fire 1 was being chased by Recon Zero. She knew that she would die if she didn't lose the enemy. She fired off all of her flares and flew towards the ground. Recon Zero fired missiles at both wings. The ship was now useless and plummeting towards the ground. Fire 1 pulled the evac pin and was thrown out of the ship. She used a parachute to get to the ground safely, but now she was surrounded by the enemy. Droids surrounded her, and she surrendered.

Only fire 2, 6, 8 and 9 were left. Fire 9 flew right behind recon Zero to try to get a good shot at it, but it had shields. All the guns on the ship turned towards fire 9 and fired. Fire 9 was extinguished.

Fire two dropped every bomb he had to try to break the shield, but it just barely held on. He knew a way to break it. Recon 1 tried to stop fire 2, but fire 2 rammed into the shield. Breaking it.

Fire 6, 8 and 9 knew that the shield was gone, and all dived to get to the factory. They were chased by Recon 0, 1, and 3.

Fire 9 fired at the factory, breaking off some of the roof. He was the first one to get in the area and was the first one to get shot at. Recon Zero fired and hit. The blast hit the engines, igniting the fuel, and the bombs on board. He went up a blaze.

Fire 6 launched a missile at the factory, damaging it more, but not enough to destroy it. 6 was met with the same fate as 9, with Recon 3 ending it.

Fire 8 was the last one. It was her mission to complete. She fired at the factory, and she destroyed it. Her time to celebrate was short, since Recon 1 shot off her left wing. He wanted her to join the pile of rubble that was once the droid factory. Recon 3 fired at the other wing. Now she was no longer spinning out of control, she was just racing to get to her final resting place. She as she got closer she decided that it was better for her to die, then to live as a POW.

* * *

Fire one watched as the last bomber crashed on the ground. She was all alone now.

Recon Zero was the first to land.

"We got their bombers, but they took out the factory." Cap reported.

"It was a decoy factory. We only made 10 droids a day." Said Via, the medic.

Via was different from the last mission she was on. Before she had her left leg, now it was mechanical.

"What do you mean?" Cap asked. She never heard about this. She thought about it.

"So, this was a complete trap." Cap understood completely now. The factory was bait from the beginning, made easily findable to get the desperate Alliance to come out and take the bait. Once they find out that they took out the base it will raise hope, then the empire will come and break it.

"It was a fair trade. We lose a few droids, and they lose their bombers. This will set them back."

"Yes, it will." Recon Zero flew back to the capital, confident in their victory.

 **Month 1 Day 1**

* * *

Salem wanted to weaken both sides to this conflict, and she knew what to do next.

"Dr. Watts gather up our finest spies and go destroy an imperial droid factory. We can't have the empire have an advantage."

"Why are we destroying the factory. Ozpin can't win this war as it is right now."

"I want this war to be stretched out, so we can make our army. We will then destroy the Alliance and the Empire in one fell swoop." Salem sent Watts out with his forces. Cinder walked in after the meeting.

"You wished to speak with me my master?" Cinder bowed.

"Yes, I want you to keep an eye on a certain Jedi. He seeks to find out what happened to his friend that you killed six months ago. That Jedi Tanner. If he finds out that you were the one to kill him, make sure he meets the same fate as our Jedi friend."

"I understand master. Shall I leave him evidence to find me?"

"No, not yet. Wait until the empire faces against the alliance in the city of Pare. There you shall go, and there you shall kill another Jedi."

"Yes master." Cinder got up to leave

"Oh, and one more thing. Don't fail me. You know what will happen." Cinder knew her lover would be taken from her again.

"I will not fail you my master."

* * *

Doctor Watts took his forces to a droid factory. It produced one thousand droids a day. It would be sorely missed.

Watts had one of the Grey Jedi he killed enter into the building first. He wouldn't be killed by some random trap. He chose everyone he had brought with him for a special purpose. In the end, they would blow up the factory, but they needed to kill everyone or everything inside first.

A sniper that hunted Watts for over a month took their position. Watts enjoyed that kill.

Watts scanned the building and found that there were 30 imperials and 270 droids covering the entire building. Watts ordered one of the undead to go to the base of the building and plant charges. That one was an imperial commander who tried to arrest Watts a few months ago. It was a quick kill.

Watts went to the person who killed him. He was a hunter with great skill, but was too confident, especially after killing Watts. Salem saved Watts, and Watts returned the favor to the hunter.

"You shall go on the offensive. When I order you to attack, you will attack." The hunter nodded his head

"Good." Watts sent one of his spies to get to the communication station and kill everyone inside of it. If they were dead, then the imperials can't call for backup.

Watts went to the others and gave them their orders.

"Now, everyone, let's start the massacre."

In a few seconds, Watts saw the deaths of at least twenty of the targets. He was impressed, but his work was yet to be done. He started to walk towards the captain over this factory. He found the captain and called out to him.

"Hey, are you the protector of this place."

"Who are you?" The captain asked.

"Are you the one put in charge of protecting this place?" He knew the answer, he just wanted to hear his response. That would show him what to expect out of the fight.

"Yes I am. If you're here to kill me then you better have some backup."

Over confident. He knew exactly how to deal with him. Watts got up close to the captain so fast that the captain didn't know what was going to happen next. Watts sliced off the hand of the captain with his sword.

The captain fell to his knees and held onto where his hand stump was.

"Oh, stop complaining." Watts cut of the man's arm. Then the other.

"Please just kill me." The captain begged for death.

"You will die." Watts picked the man up and threw him, cutting off his legs. "But it will either be blood lose or this building coming down on top of you. Depends on which comes first." Watts got up and started to walk away.

He looked out and saw his mini army completely destroy the imperials. He smiled. He enjoyed the sight of death. It was death that gave him his new life.

"Doctor Watts, I have the bombs planted. The building will go down." The dead imperial called.

"Everyone, it's time to leave this place." Everyone got out of the building besides that imperial.

Doctor Watts had the trigger so after he left he pushed the button. The building fell on top of the imperial.

"He fulfilled his purpose."

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 2**

It was all over the news, a second droid factory was destroyed. Karel smiled. This was the first time he felt that they would win this war.

"Master Roni would like to see you" Vuren said.

"What for?" Karel asked.

"I don't know. She just does."

"Alright." Karel met with Roni at the headquarters.

"What is it master Roni?" Karel asked

"Do you know how the second droid factory collapsed?"

"Didn't we send out a squad of spies?" That is what was told to the news.

"No, we had nothing to do with that. We don't know how any of this happened. We didn't even know that was a factory."

"Then that would mean that it was Salem." Karel said

"But why is she doing this? I want you to come up with a Jedi who could figure this mystery out."

"I think I know just the guy." Karel knew this Jedi would do it.

"Who?"

"Jash Beam."

 _ **Author's Notes: I got a chapter up close by the release of the other one. What is happening with me? Just kidding. I know I should be better at this, but I am trying. This is going to be on the shorter side.**_

 _ **Hope you like**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	6. Chapter 5: Moles

**Chapter 5**

 **Year 0 Month 1 Day 13**

 **The empire has suffered the destruction of an important droid factory, and the Jedi sent out a Jedi to find out why. While he tries to solve the mystery, the war waged on. The empire came up with one of its most bold operations yet. They plan to attack Atlas**

Stedam was leader of the special ops over the empire. He planned out many attacks and assassinations of the enemy. He was a bold tactician, but even he wouldn't have been as bold as Darth Sym, or Emperor Sym.

"I have a series of missions that will lead to the sacking of Atlas. First thing's first. We have at least one mole in your special ops. Find out who they are."

"I'm going to do what?"

"You will kill the mole in your group."

"I'm sorry my emperor, but that first thing."

"You mean the sacking of Atlas. Yes, you see Atlas is providing most of the troops in the war at this point. They are the true threat to us. Once we sack it we will be one leap closer to winning this war." Sym must have been planning this out since the war began Stedam said to himself.

"You know that the mole is under my command?" He asked

"Yes, and who ever they are, they need to be punished. We lost one of our ships because they leaked the information. We can't have that." Sym pulled up the pictures of seven spec ops.

"We know that the traitor is in this group."

"How do you know that?" Stedam asked.

"Because these people sent out coded messages. One or all could be the Mole. Find out who it is."

"It will be done my Lord." Stedam bowed.

Stedam knew exactly how to get the mole.

* * *

He walked passed one of his men.

"Get these seven and send them to the training room. Make sure they don't have a weapon." Stedam knew exactly what he was going to do.

The seven spec ops were put in the training room. It was a bright white room with the tops the only thing that wasn't blinding white. It could make someone go mad.

The first spec op was a human male. Ranger was his name. He was abandoned as a child and learned the useful art of manipulation and stealth. He knew how to fight. He wore a mask that covered his mouth, only showing his eyes. One was mechanical, and other was Blue.

The second was Jet. A snake faunas who had major mistrust towards humans. She kept to herself. No one really knew what she was like outside of battle

The third was Sinn. They were from one of the towns. They wore a full mask and modified their voice. They had no obvious feminine or masculine features.

The fourth was Skyler. A new recruit that had the skills of a fully trained soldier. He was also young but had wisdom beyond his years. He always disappeared after battles

The fifth was called Echo. He was an assassin that was hired for the Empire specifically. He wore a Metallic mask with a face on it. He always wore a black cloak over him and was prone to use needles as his weapons.

The sixth one was the only other faunas, A fox faunas. Chron was his name. He was just as deadly as any of the other members in the room. He was ready at any time to fight.

The final one was Valetaja. The highest-ranking spec ops in the room. He knew all the people in the room and fought alongside them except for one.

"What is this about?" Skyler asked.

Chron tried to open one of the doors, but it was locked. They all were locked. Chron looked at the glass.

A single knife rose out of the ground. Stedam's voice came over the room.

"We have a mole in this room. You will figure out who that is, and you will execute them. You have four hours."

After that everyone was ready to fight. Valetaja watched them all.

"Why would one of you betray the empire." He looked hurt.

"How do we know it wasn't you?" Jet said.

"Because you all know me. Except for that assassin."

"I don't go back on contracts if that's what you're implying." Echo said

One of the walls opened to show a screen. Six more came out showing the same thing. Dates and codes.

The names of everyone in the room flashed across. The screens moved back in the wall.

"What was that?" Sinn asked.

Ranger was ready to fight for his life.

"I think we all know we have some skeletons in our closet." Sinn said

"Your one to talk. We don't even what you are!" Chron yelled.

"What do you mean about that?" Sinn asked.

"Take off your mask and we'll know" Skyler said.

"I have no need to do so." Sinn was getting defensive.

"What were those messages about?" Chron asked

"I could ask you the same thing." Echo said. He walked towards Sinn.

"Let's not do this." Valetaja said

"Why not? One of you is a mole!" Chron pointed at everyone. That got everyone's attention.

"Why are you so certain? Why are you nervous?" Ranger said.

"Your trying to send me down the river. YOU ARE ALL TRAITORS" Chron was against the door he was sweating profusely.

"Something's wrong" Echo said. Chron started to shake. He collapsed to his knees and held onto his gut. He started to foam out of the mouth. The foam turned into blood and Chron started to rush towards the knife. As he got to it he picked it up and slammed it into his chest multiple times. He fell to the ground and his blood spilled on the floor, staining it.

* * *

Echo walked to the body and placed the knife on the pedestal. He cleaned it before placing it down.

"I guess he wasn't the mole, but why was he poisoned?" Valetaja asked. He walked towards body.

"One of us probably did it." Echo said

"What makes you think we would ever be so savage as to poison one of our own."

"Poison isn't savage. It's an art form. Its how nature fighting back against any who try to control it. It's the thing that most completely has destroyed empires. It controls our lives so completely."

"You seem to like poison." Skyler said.

"Like it? Oh no, I more than like it. It completes me. It makes who I am. It is the thing that forged me."

"You're insane." Ranger said

"But not a mole. The Empire hires me to kill in anyway I want. I would never do anything to make me lose money." Echo stopped talking. He looked up at the clock and saw that only fifteen minutes passed.

"I thought it would have been longer before one of us went crazy." Valetaja said.

"It's a one in six chance that anyone of us the mole. Who's playing the ultimate game of chance?" Echo said.

The knife on the pedestal sunk into the floor. Out came a revolver. Echo laughed at it.

"They were waiting for that." Ranger said.

"Let's try not to give anyone a reason to use that gun." Skyler said.

"Remember, one of you is a mole." Echo said.

"How do we know it's not you?" Sinn said.

"You don't, but I'll prove it to you." Echo said

"How?" Valetaja asked. Echo walked towards the gun and placed opened it. He spun the cylinder and knocked it back in. He placed it to his head and pulled the trigger. Nothing.

"Does someone else want to play?" Jet looked at Echo.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Jet asked.

"Now why would I do that?" Ranger walked up.

"I don't trust any of you. You are all traitors in my eyes." Ranger put the gun up to his head. He started to breath heavily and screamed.

He pulled the trigger.

* * *

The Bullet found it's mark. Blood splashed against the wall, and Ranger's body collapsed to the floor, blood coming out. The pedestal lowered down, and the gun fell down the hole.

Out of the pit came 5 syringes.

"Four of these syringes will save you, the other will end a life." Poison started to fill the room. Echo laughed.

"Are you trying to kill me?" He asked.

Valetaja ran towards the first syringe and injected it. Sinn followed. Neither died. Skyler got to the third syringe and injected it. Echo got to the pedestal but was thrown away from it.

"You don't deserve to live." Jet said. She plunged the fourth syringe and didn't die. Echo looked at the last syringe.

"What if I don't take it?"

"We will shoot you." A voice said. Echo plunged the syringe in his arm, then he started to convulse. He kept convulsing until he lied still on the ground.

* * *

"He must have been the mole." Sinn said

"It might be possible that the mole is still alive. Who's to say that Jet isn't the mole." Skyler said.

"How dare you?"

"You condemned Echo to his death. How do we know that you wouldn't sell the Empire's secrets to the Alliance?"

"Don't you dare send me down the river. I fought for the Empire for the past year. You just came here all of a sudden, but you have the experience of one of us!" Jet said

"Let's calm down." Valetaja said.

"I'm not going to let a human tell me what to do!"

"A human? Just because we're human doesn't mean that we want to kill you" Skyler said.

"Tell that to my family."

The same knife as before rose out of the ground. Jet grabbed it and ran towards Skyler. Skyler grabbed Jet's arms.

"We're looking for a mole!" Skyler yelled.

"I'm looking at them!" Jet kneed Skyler. He backed away. Jet then jumped over him and dug the knife deep into Skyler's head. Jet couldn't get it out.

* * *

"You killed two people here! You have to stop!" Sinn yelled. Jet stood there.

"I know he was a mole. I did my duty." Jet looked at the body.

"You humans disgust me. You all abuse my people. You rob us. You fight us. You kill us. You destroy our homes just for existing! I will make you humans pay!" She ran over to Echo. Valetaja tackled her.

"Calm Down!" Sinn looked at the clock. It's already been three hours sense this all started. One hour left on the clock.

"Have we killed the mole?"

Silence

"Answer me! We don't deserve to be stuck here! We have nothing to hide!"

The officials outside of the building have stopped listening.

"ANSWER ME!" Sinn was ignored. Jet stopped trying to fight.

"I'm better now. I'm better." Jet said. She went to the door. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry"

"I know, but you still killed him." Sinn was over Skyler's body. She saw something on his back. She pulled out the knife and cut his shirt off. On his back was a large Tattoo. On his arm was a special one. It was an alliance tattoo.

"He was a mole." Sinn said.

Valetaja went over to Ranger's Body and pulled back his sleeve. There it was, on his arm.

"Two."

Jet went to Echo. She searched his arm but didn't find one. She went to the other and found the same result. She took off his shirt but found nothing again. She put his shirt back on him.

"Echo wasn't a traitor." Jet called out.

Valetaja found the alliance Tattoo on Chron.

"They still think that one of us is the traitor. We'll have to show our arms to them." Valetaja said. He went first and showed his arms to everyone. He looked at Sinn. Sinn hesitated, but started to pull their sleeve up. They only went to elbow then stopped.

"You have to show more."

"Do I?" Sinn went for the knife but couldn't find it.

"What?" Jet snuck up behind Sinn and cup Sinn's arm. Sinn bled, but the tattoo was shown. Jet wrapped her arm around Sinn's neck and squeezed tighter. She grabbed her knife and stabbed Sinn in the kidney.

Sinn fell down to the ground. Sinn grabbed out the knife and tried to stab Jet. Jet stepped back. Sinn started to bleed out. Jet kicked Sinn in the face and picked up the knife. Jet cut Sinn's throat.

* * *

"You still haven't proven yourself Jet." Valetaja said

"How could you say that? I just killed the traitor. I knew you humans were seeking to destroy me! Where is it? Where is your Tattoo?" Jet pointed the bloody knife out at Valetaja.

"I don't have one. You on the other hand have yet to prove me otherwise."

"You think so, well then…" Jet pulled up her sleeve, showing no Tattoo. She pulled up her other one, showing no Tattoo on that arm.

"Is that proof enough?" Jet asked.

"No. You asked me where else my Tattoo was. How do we know that you aren't hiding one somewhere besides your arm?" Valetaja said

"Do you want me to strip to prove to you that I'm not a traitor? Is that what you want?"

"No. For someone who's not a traitor, you do seem to be scared."

"You think I'm scared? You must be crazy."

"Or I am right." Valetaja knew what was going to happen next.

"I guess I'll just have to prove it to you. I'll be the one to get out of here." Jet said. She ran towards Valetaja with the knife guarding her forearm. She jumped over Valetaja, but he was ready for that. When she jabbed at his back he turned around and grabbed her wrist. She looked at him. He twisted her arm to make her drop the knife.

Valetaja grabbed the knife. He tried to slash at her, but she cartwheeled backwards, knocking the knife out of his hands. She grabbed the knife as it landed in her hand. She ran towards him, and right before getting to him, she dived under his legs. She sliced at his leg, but he moved only getting a minor scratch on it. He punched her back.

"You're going to have to do better than that."

Valetaja grabbed the knife from her and tried to stab her. She saw the knife coming towards her, so she rolled out of the way. She got back off the ground and tried to get some distance away from him. He was aiming for the right moment to throw the knife. She noticed and jumped out of the way. He threw the knife, but Jet grabbed Ranger's dead body to catch the knife. She felt it enter into his body as she grabbed it out of Ranger's chest.

"That's a foul move." Valetaja said. He rushed Jet, but she wasn't moving. She knew she had to keep the knife close to her, or she was going to die.

Jet jumped on the pedestal and jumped again towards Valetaja. She spun in the air and was ready to deliver the final blow. Valetaja didn't have enough time to avoid the full hit, but he tried his best. His best ended with a knife in his shoulder, and a surprised Jet. He headbutted Jet and knocked her off from the knife, but not before the knife was twisted in his shoulder. He ripped the knife out of his shoulder with a loud scream.

"I'll kill you for that!" Valetaja yelled. He only had the ability to use one arm. Jet shaking off the effect of the headbutt. She took a second to realize that the knife was rushing towards her. She moved to the side before the killing blow could be given, but not before a large gash in her side was made. She grunted in pain, but she needed to focus on the battle. She grabbed the hand that had the knife and tried to force the knife out. She was able to get it out, but she needed to do something to stop Valetaja. She grabbed the knife and drove it into Valetaja's wounded arm. The knife hit bone and broke it. Valetaja screamed. He gave a strong punch to Jet. She backed off with the knife still in hand. She was still wounded, so she couldn't relax just yet.

Jet went up to Valetaja again, trying to get a mark across his stomach. She started, but he moved his hand to stop the killing blow. He stopped the knife with the hand that was broken. His good hand found a home on Jet's neck. He raised Jet up and slammed her into the ground. He grabbed her hair and brought her ears up to his mouth.

"Now, you will pay."

"Traitor…" Jet said weakly. Valetaja slammed her down then threw her in the air. He grabbed the knife and tried to plunge it in Jet's heart. She moved to the side just in time for a burning pain in her gut. She coughed up blood, but she wasn't ready to check out just yet. She punched Valetaja in the nose, and he let go of the knife. She pulled it out and threw it at Valetaja. He was hit in chest. His lung had to be punctured. His breathing became harder, and it caused pain. He took a few more steps towards Jet, but she pulled out the knife. He coughed out blood. She was holding onto her wound, her arm covered in blood. She quickly sliced his throat to end him quickly. He started to choke on his blood. The blood was coming out of his mouth. He still wasn't dead. She plunged it in his head and took a step back. She watched as the once white floor turn red with blood.

* * *

She tried to get the help to stabilize by using the wall, but then she felt something poke her.

She put her hand up to her neck and looked up. Echo was standing there. He wasn't dead.

"I just injected you with a something that will make you tell me the truth. Are you a traitor?" Jet soon lost all use of her arms. She couldn't move.

"I am not a traitor." Jet said. Echo fired a second thing at Jet, which she soon learned was a dart.

"This is will clot your blood. It will help you stop bleeding faster and may just keep you alive long enough to get you to the Med bay."

Echo nodded his head at the ceiling.

Stedam sent down a medic team to get Jet out of there. Echo walked out and started his way to the observation area. Stedam waited there and clapped for Echo.

"You found them. Sorry for almost getting you killed in there." Stedam motioned his hand, and a private came up with a briefcase full of Lien.

"I provided for all the weapons in this little activity. Do I get reimbursements for the lose of my knife and syringes?"

"We covered that. It looks like you'll be seeing a lot more of Jet as she'll take Valetaja's position."

"Did you know who the traitors were from the start?"

"All but one. You just helped us know for sure."

"I would also like a different mask. This one could have gotten me killed."

"What kind of mask?"

"I want one that changed my voice, one where I can place two cylinders of poison, and release them, and one with an updated air filtration system. Also, It should also have a built in radio in it."

"Anything else?"

"Make it white. I'll paint it myself."

"We'll get that to you soon."

"And give this to Jet. I'll make her my apprentice." Echo takes off his mask, showing Stedam his face. He pulled up a face mask.

"We'll be seeing you soon Echo."

 _ **Author's Notes: So, this was an attempt to do a slower story. I want to know what you thought about it. This wasn't a plot chapter, but more of a character Chapter.**_

 _ **I created Echo for a different story, but this one can fit him.**_

 _ **Next time will be the start of the battle of Pare**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	7. Chapter 6: Battle of Pare Part 1

**Chapter 6**

 **Year 0 Month 1 day 20**

 **The war has been raging on across the world. The Empire has been marching across Vale. The empire has been slowly marching towards city of Pare. The Alliance has been sending many troops to the city to meet the eventual imperial army.**

Roni knew she had a few Jedi who she could send. She wasn't going to send team RWBY again. They fought well, but that was a slow and small battle. Jash Beam was gone, Arin Jones was leading a battle. Gael and her apprentice, Xar could go. She could send them, but not just them. Xar still had dark tendencies.

Roni walked into the Jedi council room. She sat in her seat and waited for the other master. They walked into the room and took their seats.

"I need help. Who should I send to Pare?"

The other masters started to think about it.

"Who do you have going now?" One of the masters asked.

"I would think that Gael and Xar should go." Roni said.

"Xar was once a Sith, is he able to be trusted?" The Jedi master Emerald Ray said. She was born on Remnant, and she was a human. She was from Atlas, and her robes had the symbol of Atlas on it. She was a politician for Atlas.

"It has been over a year. He hasn't been infected with the Dark side for the past year." Another master, Jedi master Vester Brock said. He was from Vale. He was the physically strongest Jedi in the council. He was the one who made the Holo to call the Jedi to Beacon.

"I don't know if he can be fully trusted. Let's send at least one more Jedi. Pare will be a large battle." The grandmaster said.

"Who should that be?" Roni asked

"I would suggest taking Jedi knight Karel Allusis. He has healed fully, and he has yet to go to any of the battles." The third master, Jedi master Razz Black said. Razz Black was from Vacuoo.

"Are you sure? He does have battlefield experience…" Roni thought about it. No one would be better for this fight. "I think we'll have to do this."

* * *

Roni called Karel, Gael, and Xar to the temple. They all came.

"Master Roni are going someplace?" Karel asked.

"Yes. I have conferred with the other Jedi masters. We have decided you three are the best for this mission." Roni said

"We understand." Gael said

"But I will be bringing Bora, as my second." Karel said

"Agreed."

"When are we going?" Karel asked again.

"We need you out there as soon as possible. You'll be meeting up with a hunter team that's already out there. Team BGND. The team leader will help you in the defense of the city. May the force be with you"

"And you master Roni." Gael said. She and Xar got up, but Karel asked a question

"What's the leader's name? That would be very helpful."

"It's Patrick Browne." Roni said

"Thank you."

* * *

Karel walked into his room and rolled on his bed. Bora was on the bed and she jumped up. She relaxed when she saw it was Karel.

"What are you doing in my bed?" She asked

"This is my bed. Yours is on the other side of the room."

"Your back early. Where are we going?"

"You're perceptive. We're going to Pare. Someone's going to have to defend it." Karel says.

"Yeah, Yeah." Bora opened her eyes, and Karel noticed they weren't red.

"Are you wearing contacts?"

"No. I wore contacts when we first meet, but I haven't worn them for a while. How did you only now just notice?"

"I never knew they were green."

"Let's get ready to go." Bora gets off the bed first and she pulled out a backpack. "Alright, I'm done packing"

"That's why I love you." Karel says. He gets up and gets his lightsabers.

"I got to call Gael and Xar. They're coming with us."

"Do you have your ship back?"

"I better have my own kriffen ship at this point. They left a month ago."

"You better check."

"I better lock it down. They just take it half the time."

"Yeah…" Bora remembered when she took it to help blake with something.

"It's docked. We can get to it." Karel get his stuff and walks out of the Room.

Bora smiled. She grabbed a second bag and followed Karel.

* * *

"Gael, Xar, this is Karel. I have my ship ready. Meet me there." Karel sends the coordinates to the Jedi and gets on his ship. When he got on he smiled. His ship was still the same as he left it.

"Wait up." Bora said.

"Sorry. I didn't realize that you were that far behind."

"I had to carry two bags."

"I thought you only had one."

"One for weapons and one for clothes, or do you want me to have to wear this one set of clothing?"

"Alright." Karel went to the cockpit and looked out the window. He sat down in the co-pilot chair and took a deep breath. Bora sat down in the pilot chair and looked at Karel.

"This ship reminds me of our galaxy." Bora said.

"It reminds me of my master. She loved this ship."

Karel's scroll buzzed. He pulled it out and saw that Gael and Xar were arriving. He got up and went to the bottom of the ramp.

"We're here." Gael said

"Just over here." Karel waved. Gael and Xar walked up, both with bags.

"Thank you." Xar said

"We need to get to the city quickly. We have no idea when the empire will start the attack." Karel said

"Let's hope we'll get there in time." Xar said

"We can get there fast enough." Karel said

Karel, Xar, Gael, and Bora got on the ship and flew towards the city of Pare. A few miles away from the Alliance Base. Bora sent the confirmation codes and landed behind Alliance lines.

"This is where the fun begins" Karel said

* * *

They got out of the ship, to be met with a squad of Alliance soldiers.

"Jedi. We would like you to follow us. The CO would like to strategize with you." The squad leader said. She led the group to one of the buildings in center of the city. The CO was sending out commands, to raise the defenses, and to call for a battalion of Altesian Knights to help defend the city

He turned around and took a breath.

"I'm Commander Soleil from Atlas." He took out a pocket watch and closed it. "We're behind schedule. Let's make this quick."

"When is the empire going to get within firing range?" Karel asked.

"Our best estimate is within two days."

"And we know that they'll probably attack from the east side." Gael said

"If they take the river, they'll have the mobility advantage." Soleil said. He brought up a map. It showed Pare and everything around it. Pare was built on an island and has two main bridges on the East and West sides of it. The river drains into the ocean and starts at a large freshwater lake. On the outskirts of the town were the suburbs, and a after that the farms. Pare was almost a city state.

"When they come, they'll try to get the farming land. They'll need to feed their troops and starve us." Soleil said

"We should send out an advance force to meet them in the farms. If they take the farms we move back to the suburbs. Every time we give up land we make it a costly endeavor." Xar said

"We don't have unlimited man power." Soleil said.

"I know that. We lay traps. We have to make sure if they come into the city, they will have lost more a lot of people." Xar explained.

"We can't just lay traps wherever we please."

"Who says?"

"Xar, that's enough" Gael said. Xar stopped

"Excuse me." Xar said.

"What my apprentice was trying to say is that we have to make it a hazard to cross the open. We can place mines around. There is no need to destroy property." Gael explained.

"We have guns pointed at the forest's edge. If something moves, we'll kill it."

"Let's hope so." Bora said. "But let's not forget that their may be a Sith in this battle."

"That's what you Jedi are for." Soleil said.

A soldier entered the building

"Sir, we have reports of enemy spies." The troop held out a datapad.

"Give it here."

Soleil looked over the reports.

"Two dozen confirmed imperial scouts. We don't have long before they finally decide to attack. Get those mines placed."

The alliance worked through the night preparing the defenses.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 21**

The day was spent working. Everyone knew that it was the last day before the empire started its siege.

As the sun fell, and the lights came up, the work force shifted. The work continued. Karel was with Bora on top of one of the city's towers. He looked over the edge of the tower and saw only troops working. He pulled out a piece of chalk and started to write a bunch of numbers down on the rooftop. Bora walked u behind him.

"It's really hard to make calculations for firing when the enemy hasn't even arrived." She bent down and looked over his math.

"Negative four, not four." She said. She pointed at a part of the calculations.

"Thanks." Karel said. He fixed his work and picked up a rock. He threw it over the edge of the building, following his calculations. He used the force to make sure it was straight. Karel didn't see where it landed, but his test was successful.

"Something tells me something big will come through there." Karel said.

"If something does come through, I'm sure the gunner will be glad you did his work for him." Bora grabbed the chalk from his hand.

"It's late. We're going to battle tomorrow." Bora tried to get Karel to stop worrying.

"The last time I fought, I failed to protect Whitley. I lost when the inquisitor attacked Beacon. You killed him." Karel said

"So you lost a few times. Get over yourself. These men are scared, but they don't run, or do something stupid."

"If something were to happen to you…" Karel started

"I wouldn't blame you. Get that through your skull, no matter what happens to me, I won't blame you. You can't save everyone."

"I hate when everyone says that." Karel shook his head "I'm only mortal. I know that, but Jedi. We are meant to be more."

"Many Jedi get themselves killed. I don't want you to be another one of them." Bora pulled out a water bottle and gave it to Karel. "You haven't drunk anything. You still need to keep yourself healthy."

"Thanks." Bora got her jetpack out of her bag. She started to tinker with it. When she was done she put it on and pulled out her helmet. She put it on and sat next to Karel. He knew he needed sleep. He could feel exhaustion come over him.

"I set up a tent on the floor below us." Bora said. She got up and went into the tent. A few minutes later, Karel entered the tent. It was large enough for the two of them, and all the equipment.

"You get that sleeping bag." Bora said.

Karel got in the sleeping bag, and quickly drifted to sleep.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 22**

A large bang awoke Karel and Bora. Karel quickly got out of the tent and rushed towards the top of the building. It was early in the morning, but the Empire didn't care. Xar and Gael were somewhere in the city. Karel sent a message out with his Scroll

"They're here." He sent.

"We know" Gael said.

Bora got to the top of the building. Karel turned around and shook his head.

Bora ran towards him, grabbing him and jumped off the building. She turned on her jetpack and they flew towards the battle.

Gael and Xar were in the farms, waiting for the empire to show itself. She had a gun pointed at where the force was telling her. She waited and saw imperials move out of the forest. She sent a message to the gunner she had stationed, and the blast came. She watched as a squad of imperials were blasted away. She turned towards Xar

"It's time." She got a message from Karel and she answered it. She turned on her green lightsaber and jumped out of the farm. A squad of imperials were coming out of the forest and started to fire at Gael. She deflected the bolts fired at her.

A loud cry came from the forest and from the trees hundreds, or thousands of imperial troops, both human and faunas, both living and robotic, came from the trees. Gael stationed a few hundred troops. They were going to have to fight if they wanted to survive. She started to deflect the bolts and move back. A droid stepped on a mine. It blew up, as well as dozens of other imperials.

"Those mines are affective." Gael said to Xar. Xar smirked.

"Of course, they are. It was my idea." His new blue blade shined. He and Gael had each other's backs.

Karel and Bora landed in the suburbs. Bora knew where she could go. She planted a sniper rifle on the house she landed on. She got it out and looked at the crowd coming from the forest.

"You've got an ocean of fish to choose from." Karel said.

Bora fired but it didn't help. Whenever she killed someone, they would just be replaced. A few tanks came out of the forest, firing at the fields.

"They're just throwing their troops at us." Karel said. He heard a familiar noise and looked up. The Empire send a bombing squad to their location.

"They're trying to push up back immediately. Do they even have a plan?"

Lord Watu looked at the reports that his scouts were able to get. They placed heavy gunnery at the tops of all the buildings. They wanted him to throw his troops at them. He liked the challenge. He sent a small portion of his army to test out the waters.

The Alliance placed mines, but they did it in a pattern. He two Jedi but suspected more were in the city. The River was wide enough to send one of the ships us it, but it would have to be one of the smaller ships. He would send up reinforcement through that. He had four bombing squads on hand. His camp was easily movable.

* * *

"I want to get a foothold in the area. We'll get the guns to point at the forces who will be moving up first. After a short time, we'll send in the bombers to take out the guns. Once the guns are gone then we will be safe to move in." Watu explained to his officers.

"What about those who go out first?"

"They'll have to get to safety or suffer the consequences. The area is littered with farms, fields of crops, homes. They just need to be quick."

Lord Watu sent out his force. Some were shot at as soon as they left the safety of the trees, but others were able to freely move. He sent out a few of the tanks to give some cover for the first wave. He waited until the Jedi revealed themselves.

* * *

Karel looked at the building. All the bombers dropped their loads. Many of the buildings on the eastern end were damaged. The guns shot at were destroyed. A second wave came out of the forest. Karel took out binoculars and looked at the people coming out of the forest. They were large. They were droids. They were like super battle droids. Bora fired at one, and it died. She reloaded.

"They got bigger, so what?" The troops in the fields fired back at the oncoming army. This reminded Karel of the battles he fought in.

"They have a Sith."

"You can sense him?"

"I can feel the darkness." Karel took out his lightsaber and jumped down from the house. A bomber was coming towards the house that Bora was on. She noticed, and got off, before it was blown away. Bora got up from the ground and ran towards Karel. She threw down the sniper on the ground and pulled out her pistols

Karel and Bora rushed to the front of the battle. Alliance and Imperial troops were firing at each other, bodies falling.

Karel jumped out of a field of corn and cut a droid in half. He used the force to push a small group into each other. He rushed forward slicing down imperials moving towards the darkness he felt.

* * *

Lord Watu saw a Jedi rushing towards his direction. He pulled out his lightsaber and moved forward.

Watu held his lightsaber up to block the attack from the Jedi. The Jedi jumped and made a downward slash at him. Watu saw the look on his face

"What?"

"You're a Sith."

"Yes, and you're a Jedi."

"No, you're a pure blood Sith. You shouldn't be alive."

"What's that?" Watu pushed the Jedi back. His race must be extinct now.

"Your people are dead. The republic killed them." The Jedi started to attack Watu with form I. Watu noticed this quickly. He went on the offensive and used his form V. Watu's strength overpowered the Jedi's defense, for a few seconds The Jedi switched lightsaber forms.

"Do you think you can stand against my attack?"

Waku changed his lightsaber style. Form VII. His strikes were powered by his hate of the Jedi. He kept pounding on the Jedi, but he kept blocking. The Jedi broke off the engagement.

Karel knew that he would have to catch the Sith off guard. He turned around and jumped into the corn field. He turned off his lightsaber and waited

"Coward" The Sith called out

The Sith walked into the corn maze. He turned his lightsaber off. An Alliance troop was unfortunate enough to run into Waku. Waku cut the troop in half, but he didn't notice the blue blade coming at him until the last second. The blade ran across his cape. Karel turned off his lightsaber and moved back into the corn.

"Fight me!" Waku cut down the corn around him.

Bora got her weapons ready. The next time Karel would attack the Sith she would fire an electric shock at him.

Karel rushed at Waku. Waku turned his lightsaber on and met the blade with his own. They were in a gridlock, when Waku felt a shock in his back. Karel pushed their lightsabers up and punched Watu in his chin. He used the force to push the Sith put of the Corn.

A wall of Sith War Droids came out of the forest. Watu got up and order them to fire at the corn. They fired, but Karel was already gone with Bora.

* * *

The Alliance brought in a squad of snub fighters and destroyed a few bombers. The Alliance troops were moving out of the farmland into the suburbs, including Gael and Xar. Karel and Bora got close to where they were before. The suburb was full of Alliance troops waiting for the Empire to get ambitious.

Watu decided that he would command his troops in battle. He ordered the troops to move forward. They moved out of the farm fields and moved into the suburbs. Each house had a few Alliance soldiers in them, so when the imperials moved in, they were slaughtered. A Tank moved into the main road of the suburbs, moving towards the bridge, but it didn't get far. Xar jumped on top of it and sliced into it. He tossed a grenade in it and watched it explode.

A war droid walked into the street and fired at Xar. He wasn't paying close attention and almost got blasted. Gael jumped and grabbed Xar. She threw her lightsaber into the droid and called it back.

"You Idiot! Keep your eyes on the battle!"

"Sorry master." He dodged an imperial trying to stab him. He grabbed the imperial and threw him into a house. "I know what me dying would do to your reputation."

Gael used the force to grab the tank and throw it into another war droid. "That's not why I'm mad. I don't want to lose you." Gael "Move!" She jumped to the left, while he moved the right. Part of a bomber crashed down in the street.

"What do you mean?" Xar asked. He used the force to grab a grenade in the air, and he tossed it back to where it came from.

"I don't have time to explain right now." Gael used a force push to throw a squad of imperials away.

Karel dropped behind Gael and Xar

"We've lost 3rd north to 8th. Ten more tanks are moving up. Where is that Hunter team we were promised?"

A man in powered armor flies and launches a beam attack into a war droid, destroying it. The suit is a brown and whitish color. There was a large glowing center to it and a mask shaped like a face.

The suit is holding something that looks like a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon. And it fired on the squad the Gael threw away. It then landed, and the mask lifted up. A person was inside of it.

"I'm Patrick Browne. Leader of team BGND"

"Where's the rest of your team?"

"Cleaning up in north 6th street."

"Why are you out here?"

"I needed to inform you that we are here, since we haven't met yet."

From the pile of tank came an explosion. Waku with half a dozen war droids appeared. Everyone got ready for the fight. Before the fight could begin a bullet rips through the air hitting a war droid. Another hunter drops down

"Tyler, did we take care of the problem?" Patrick was addressing Tyler Nickelson. He wore a Nickel grey T-shirt that has his emblem on it, A darker shaded grey skull with a recital right between the eye sockets, on the back, blue jeans, and blue sneakers.

"Yeah, the others should be getting here soon."

"Good." Patrick's mask goes back down. He flies up and tried to fire his gun, but it's out. He takes out the container of dust, and Tyler shoots it. The blast knocks Watu off balance and destroys a war droid. Patrick pulls twin pistols he calls Lasermores. He flies behind Watu and fires at him, but Watu swats the bullets away. Karel jumps on a war droid and destroy it. Xar and Gael destroy the other war droids. Waku is all alone. He grabs Patrick with the force and tosses him on the ground, then into Tyler. Waku then starts to attack the three Jedi.

"A.L.I.S, systems check." Patrick said

"All fine here sir." The AI said

"Good." Patrick got back up and put his pistols away. He pulled out his weapon called scatter master. He flew up to Waku and tried to fire at him, but that didn't work. Waku sliced the gun in half with one stroke, and disarmed Patrick with a second. The Jedi all push Waku back, and rush for Patrick. Tyler rushes to his leader and looks at the wound.

Tyler grabbed Patrick and started to drag his leader away. Patrick held off the pain and stood up.

"I need to leave. We need to leave. The Empire… took south and north." Patrick used his suit to fly towards the city. Karel and the rest of them fled into the city.

* * *

Karel knew the Alliance had one more trick up its sleeve. He called Bora and she went to the building they were in the night before. At this point the whole day had gone by. Karel looked out over the fields and saw dead bodies everywhere. Blood pooling up. Bora got in the building, and she had blood coming from her lip.

"What happened to you?" Karel asked

"I said something about this imperials mother, and took offense to that, so they punched me. I shot them in the face."

"What about your helmet?"

"I took it of long before then. It got dented and ruined all the nice things I put on it. Looks like were moving to the googles." Bora smiles. Karel wipes the blood away.

"Want to watch the start of a siege?" Karel asked

"What do you mean?" Bora asked.

Karel walked to a window. A shield came over the city. The Last of the bombers crashed into the shield as they were about to go on another bombing run.

"Our forces are so strong over the bridge that they won't be able to cross it for a while. We can take a breath."

"How did you know the city had a shield generator?" Bora asked.

"I looked at some of the stuff Soleil had in his office." Bora smiled.

"You're a clever one."

"More like observant." Karel went over to Bora and pulled out a med kit.

"While we have some time, lets get you patched up." Karel got out a rubbing alcohol. He cleaned Bora's wound.

"Thanks. Bora put her head on Karel's shoulder.

He pulled out a rations pack.

"We need to eat up." Karel said

"Yeah." Bora and Karel ate.

After they ate Karel asked, "Where's your helmet?"

"In the tent with all our stuff. Why?"

"Would you mind if I use the metal for something?"

"For what?"

"Something"

Bora though about it for a few seconds.

"Sure. You can have it." Karel kissed Bora. "Thanks love."

"It better be something good that you use the metal for."

"It will be. Trust me."

Karel knew what he would use the metal for.

* * *

Soleil knew this battle just became a siege, so he needed some reinforcements to replace all the men he lost today, and everything he would need to run the army.

"Request more Jedi. We need more Jedi if we are to hold this city." Soleil said.

He hoped that his request would be received, and it would be given the seriousness it deserves.

"Are you sure that's not asking for too much?" one of the officers said

"We need the force on our side, as well as more fighters. If we control the air, then we can control the ground."

"Yes Sir." That officer left

"Sir, here are the numbers of dead on our side." Soleil took the paper and looked at it.

They had lost over three thousand men today, with many more wounded.

Soleil took a seat and shook his head.

"What about the hunters?"

"None are dead, one is severely injured."

"What do you mean by severely?"

"He lost an arm."

Soleil looked at his watch. He took a deep breath and closed it.

"The first round was only a few hours. We'll make this battle last longer. Tell me when the Empire get on the bridge. We'll have a surprise for them."

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 23**

Roni looked at the request from Pare. She didn't have any idea who to send, when she got an idea. Two more Jedi, Mizuki Muto and Akio Jin. They just got back from a successful attack against the empire. It wasn't anything major, but it should stop them for some time.

Mizuki and Akio walked into the war room.

"I need you two to go to the city of Pare. It is currently under siege. We'll be sending you with reinforcement, and three gray Jedi."

"This battle will be over when we have this many Jedi on the field." Akio said

"The number of Jedi won't win you a battle. I should know." Roni replied.

"We accept the mission." Mizuki said.

"Thank you, oh and one more thing, we need you to deliver this robotic arm to one of the hunters who were in the fight. He met with a Sith Lord, and it didn't go to well."

"We understand."

"Good. If the battle is not finished in three weeks, we will send replacement Jedi, and you'll leave the battle."

"Do you think this battle will last that long?"

"I have no idea. This battle just became a siege." Roni said, "I fear that it will last for too long."

Mizuki and Akio stood up and bowed their heads.

"We'll be out there by the day's end." Akio said.

"May the force be with you."

"And you master Roni." They left the room. Roni pulled up the numbers from the battle. The Alliance lost many men, but the empire lost three for everyone the alliance lost. She had a feeling that this battle will start to move in one direction. If the Alliance can keep this city, the empire will lose face. The Pendulum of war will wave the way of the Alliance.

"I just hope that we can make it swing." Roni said to herself

* * *

Waku looked at the numbers. He underestimated the Alliance.

"So the dog has teeth behind its bark. I will not make that mistake again. Captain!"

A captain ran into the command Station. It was in the suburbs.

"Yes my lord?"

"Order the Mark II war droids. One thousand of them will do nicely. We'll level the city."

"Yes sir." The captain left the house. Waku looked through the files. The Jedi he fought the previous day seems to have a reputation. He's from their galaxy. That would change things. He also fought at the so-called battle of Beacon. Some of his men would find that very interesting.

"I will place a one million Lien bounty on the Jedi."

Empress Vox called. Waku answered.

"Lord Waku how goes the battle?"

"We have pushed the Alliance into the city, but they have a strong shield around it."

"That could complicate things. I have received the order on the Mark II droids. This request is filled."

"I have one more request, mark the Jedi Karel Allusis with a bounty."

"Allusis. Agreed. What was the price you thought of?"

"One million Lien."

"To kill an Allusis, it is granted."

"Thank you, empress."

"Do not fail me."

"When have I failed you?"

Vox ended the Call. Waku turned around and ordered an officer to gather together fifty of the best scouts.

"We need to find that shield generator. Order our tanks to fire the smoke shots."

"It will be done."

* * *

Karel sat in a building writing something on the ground. Bora walked up to him.

"What are you doing now?"

"I'm letting my creativity flow." Karel was writing poems on the ground.

"Isn't there something more proactive you can be doing?"

"No. Should I grow a beard."

"No." Bora said immediately.

Karel stopped writing.

"Something's wrong."

"What is it?"

"I feel something…" Karel went to the window and saw smoke covering the bridge.

"Do you have a thermal scope?"

"yeah, here it is." Bora looked down her sniper's scope and saw people moving across the bridge. She fired a shot, hitting the lead. The others scattered into nearby buildings.

"Commander Soleil, this is Jedi Karel Allusis, the empire sent in a small group of soldiers, be on high alert."

"Copy. How many?"

"More than thirty but less than sixty." Bora said. She didn't have much time to count.

"Between 30 and 60"

"What is the empire trying to do? That's a suicide mission for so few troops."

"They're trying to find the Shield Generator." Karel said.

* * *

An alert went across all the Alliance communication waves in the area.

"Enemies Spotted. Stay on high alert" Went over the radios.

"They know were here." Said Jet. She dropped the body of an Alliance troop. Echo laughed.

"That means we have to be more careful." Echo and Jet arrived late in the night. Stedam thought they could be useful.

"Or have some fun." Jet wore Echo's old mask. She adjusted it to fit her needs, but it was basically the same.

Echo's mask had two vials of poison on it. The mask would open the mouth and poison would come out. His mask had an air filtration system to keep the poison out.

"What's that?" Jet asked, she looked out the window and saw five Alliance ships drop by the edge of the city.

"The second day starts" Echo said.

 _ **Author's notes: Pare will be a very important battle in the second great war.**_

 _ **Remember, even now, you can affect the story, by sending me OCs.**_

 _ **I hope this is going to be well liked.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_

 _ **P.S: I completely forgot to mention that the Hunters in this chapter are from StarWarsLover1998. Sorry for forgetting. You have a few more coming up**_


	8. Chapter 7: Battle of Pare part 2

**Chapter 7**

 **Year 0, Month 1 Day 23**

 **As the second day of the siege of Pare begins, both the empire and the alliance get ready to resume the fighting, both receiving fresh reinforcements. As the day began a small force of imperials entered the shielded city.**

Two Jedi and three grey Jedi were apart of the reinforcements to Pare. Mizuki Muto and Akio Jin were sent to help the battle. When they landed they were treated to the same treatment that Karel and his group were. They went off to get to the HQ immediately, but they couldn't get in because the city was under lockdown. Most of the troops were moved to the east side.

"Why won't the commander see us? We're the Jedi he asked for." Akio said

"Just a minute." A guard said

"Fine"

A few minutes passed Commander Soleil opened the door and brought them in.

Karel was sitting by a window wondering why more imperials weren't coming. By now at least fifteen of the scouts are dead, though it's probably higher.

"Karel, back away from there." Bora said

"It's only a window. There are thousands of them on this island." Karel said. He looked out the window. He saw the alliance ships coming down and dropping off new troops.

"Looks like we got some back up." Karel said. His scroll started buzzing.

"We got two more Jedi, and three greys."

"That'll be helpful. Not we just need to kill imperials in the city." Bora said. She was cleaning her blaster.

Echo was waiting right behind a doorway. He didn't know if this was one of the Jedi. He didn't know if he could take on a Jedi. He looked at a new post on the bounty board. This Jedi had quite a lot on his head.

Echo thought about it but decided against getting in a fight.

He placed a small camera, so he could watch the Jedi

He turned around and motioned for Jet to move back. They moved silently.

Karel looked at the door. Something told him something wasn't right. He went over to the doorway and took a long look. He didn't find anything.

Akio walked out of the Headquarters. He was ready to get to the fighting. He walked towards the bridge. He watched as the imperials walked back and forth on the other side of the shield. He wanted to mock them, but he knew that there were still a few of them in the city. He sent a message to Karel, so he could meet up with him. Mizuki walked behind Akio.

"We're going to meet up with Karel. He's in one of the buildings close to the bridge." Akio said.

"We can be ready to fight the second that they send out their next wave." Mizuki said.

"Yeah." Akio said.

"But we need to take the people we're leading with us."

"Wait we're leading people?" Akio turned around. Thirty troops were behind him.

"You missed something in the meeting you decided to skip out on." Mizuki whispered in Akio's ear. Akio sent Karel another message. They went to the building.

* * *

Echo saw two Jedi and thirty men moving towards the building he was just in. He smiled. They would separate, making it easy to take them down. He looked at Jet. He signaled at her to follow behind him.

They watched as the Jedi entered the building.

Echo stopped for a second.

"Let's call in the main force to make this a little more even." Echo sent out a message and the 13th legion answered the call. They started to move out, with the tanks following the troops who enter the shield.

"We have the location of the shield generator. One of the scouts found it." A voice came over.

"All forces prepare to march into the city." Waku called over the radio. Echo and Jet went into the building, but they couldn't find anyone on the first floor. Echo went up to the next floor, and he saw six troops. Echo took out six needles and jammed them into six vials of poison on his back. He threw the needles in the bodies of the six troops. His needles were sharp, and they pierced the armor. Each soldier fell to the ground.

Jet came up behind

"Our forces are crossing the bridge now." Jet said Echo went to a window and saw the first few troops cross the bridge into the city, some getting shot as soon as they crossed, but then the bridge blew up, cutting the empire off from the troops inside.

"It's a trap." Echo said. He pulled out a dagger and rushed up to the next floor. One of the alliance troops was standing at the door. He didn't have time to realize what was happening. Echo plunged the dagger into his chest, then he grabbed the gun from his body, and shot at three others. They fell to the ground, but now he was sure that the others in the building would know that he was there.

"We can't go back now." Jet said. She grabbed a pistol and got ready. Only two troops came down the stairs. Jet hid behind the stairs then jumped out and got a troop into a chock hold. Echo grabbed him and tossed him into the room. Echo then grabbed two knives and jammed them into the troop's arms.

Echo pulled out a small vial of poison and opened the troop's mouth, pouring the contents in his mouth.

"Do we have explosives?" Jet asked.

"Yes. What do you want to do?"

"Place them on the water valves, gas lines, and electrical generator. We need to cause as much damage as possible."

Echo grabbed all the grenades off the bodies and handed them to Jet.

"I'm going to keep moving up. You start the sabotage mission. I'll try to get the Jedi out of this building."

Jet shook her head and went off. Echo was going to flex his muscles with this crowd.

He went up the next flight of stairs and saw eight troops. He was getting closer. He tossed two smoke grenades and rushed the squad. He jumped right before he would have run into the crowd and the gas in his mask started to come out. The gas had two stages. First it would paralyze you, then it would cut off your airway. The eight started to move, but soon they dropped their weapons and fell to the floor. Echo took the grenades off the troops, except for one.

"Let me get this for you." He activated the grenade and walked away. He was on the next flight of stairs when the grenade went off.

The last ten troops were flights up the stairs, but strangely spread out. Echo was able to pick them off one by one until he got to the last floor. All that was left was the Jedi. He picked up the camera and crushed it. He put to poison gas bombs in a clay like substance that was extremely sticky. He tossed four of these on the walls.

* * *

Akio felt something was off. None of the troops were reporting that any of the imperials were in the building, but he hadn't been able to contact them.

Karel looked at Akio with wide eyes

"We have to get out of here."

Four hisses filled the room, and gases came out of them. Karel took out his lightsaber and cut a hole in the wall of the building and used the force to push it out. Bora grabbed him, and they flew down to the base of the building. Akio and Mizuki jumped out of the wall and started to fall towards the ground. They used the force to avoid becoming paste.

"That would answer why the troops weren't answering back." Mizuki said.

"Our stuff's up there." Karel said.

"We need to know who this enemy is before we rush them. And where they are." Bora said.

Echo looked out of the hole in the wall and decided that he's had enough of this building.

"Jet get to the top floor, then we'll blow the explosives."

"Alright"

* * *

Watu looked at the broken bridge, and couldn't help but feel angry, though he did expect this, so he sent for a bridge truck. Drove down the road, and placed he watched as it placed a new bridge.

"All forces continue advance." Armored trucks were the first things to cross. They had eight people each, and dozens of them crossed. The gunners started to fire as soon as they entered the shield. Those pesky Alliance troops in those first few buildings were being slaughtered. A few tanks were able to cross over the bridge and enter the city. Now the real battle began. Four Armored troop transports entered and dropped off troops. They all had one mission, to destroy that shield generator.

* * *

Akio turned and saw the empire launch in tanks, trucks, and troops into the city.

"We have to worry about that now." He pointed. Karel turned and sighed.

"We're not getting our stuff back, are we?" Karel still wanted to get the helmet to make something that would come in handy in about a year or two.

"Not yet."

The first wave of imperials took ground quickly. Many of the Altesian guards were destroyed quickly. The humans were getting pushed back, that was before Karel and the other Jedi entered the picture.

Karel jumped on one of the trucks as it was turning a corner. He cut off the gun and cut down the gunner. He dropped a grenade and jumped to the next truck. He used the force to make the driver crash into a building. Bora flew by firing at the imperials, mostly droids. She landed next to Karel and they fought back to back. "This isn't what most couples do for dates." Bora said.

Karel grabbed a droid and flung it into a truck's wind shield. It swerved and crashed into another building.

"What do you want to do when we get back to Vale?" Karel asked. Karel grabbed a grenade and tossed it at the truck.

Akio jumped around the corner, slicing the head off a droid.

"Why are you discussing that right now? We're having to fight for our lives." Akio said

"This is nothing." Karel barely said that when Mizuki had to hold a tank shell up with the force.

"Pay attention" She said. She tossed it at a squad that was moving up. The building that they were in was shot at, and a huge hole filled the fourth floor. Bora looked at Karel and he shook his head.

* * *

Bora and Karel flew into the hole and decided to run up to the top floor. The man was still there, twirling a needle in his hand.

"Who are you?"

"Me, I'm just a simple bounty hunter. You can call me Echo." Echo stopped twirling the needle, so he could toss it. He turned around stopped. He held the needle tight.

"Why are you doing this?" Karel asked.

"Do you know that you have a price on your head. A price so large that you could disappear and live a good long life. Some would say that you are one of the biggest prizes on Remnant." Echo quickly pulled out an electric dust stone. Bora caught it.

The water sprinklers throughout the building went off. Echo tossed the needle at the dust, breaking it. Bora fell to her feet and screamed. Echo jumped out of the hole that Karel made, jumped to the roof of another building.

Karel grabbed hold of Bora and felt the shocks. Bora was paralyzed, and barely breathing. He knew Gael was nearby. He grabbed Bora, took off her jetpack, and put it on. He had to be quick if he was going to Get Bora the help she needed.

* * *

Akio and Mizuki were fighting a losing battle, having to give up land with every step. Most of the troops positioned at the entrance were dead now, and those who weren't were moving retreating. Mizuki used the force to bring the top of a building down. It crashed on one of the tanks and cut off a main road. She was nearly exhausted by that. Two hunters jumped down from one of the buildings nearby.

"We've lost this side of the city. We're pushing them back, but we need some help at Macer and 14th. Those imps brought out this new type of droid that's ripping our forces to shreds. I'm Ethan Dodger by the way."

Ethan was another member of team BGND. He was in a Dodger Blue Baseball cap, blue T-shirt with his emblem, a silhouette of him in the middle with one more silhouette on either side of it, blue jeans, and blue sneakers.

"And I'm Dylan Greene."

He has on a grey flat cap, a black T-shirt with his Emblem, which is a green eyeball, with a pink tear forming at the bottom. He was the last member of BGND

"Lead the way."

Mizuki followed behind and as soon as she got to the road, she saw what they were talking about. The droids were a much newer model of the War machines and the HK units. Mizuki swore under her breath as a she was almost killed as soon as she turned. Akio jumped behind Mizuki and pulled out his lightsaber.

Mizuki turned her lightsaber on again.

"The imperials are throwing all they've got at us." Mizuki turned around for a second and saw the shield generator.

"That's why."

This was going to be where all the fighting will be for a few hours. The road went into a tunnel that let out to the city square, which was uncovered. The HK units were trying to cut down the alliance troops to get to the generator. From the last time HK units were used, they had bombs in them.

Mizuki decided to test if they still had the bomb in them. She cut one in half but didn't find a bomb in it. She was confused but couldn't let that get into her head.

Akio jumped on top of the head of one of the war droids and slammed his lightsaber into it. It collapsed to the ground and Akio rolled off it. He looked at the force that showed no sign of stopping. He called on the Force to burst the water lines underneath the force moving forward. When he did the slow War droids were tipped over, the ones closest to the front lines.

"Akio get back over here." Mizuki called.

"What?"

"That was the cities main waterline. Unless we freeze it, we're going to have no water for the entire battle."

"Oh." Akio said. The soldiers that were there gathered together all the ice dust they had and hoped for the best. Akio threw all the dust around the hole and used the force to crush them. It would hold for some time, but they would need a more permanent solution.

The empire didn't seem to be attacking now. Something was off. Akio and Mizuki felt the attack before it happened, but the troops didn't have the same luxury. A hail of bullets came down from all directions. Akio and Mizuki deflected the bullets. The hunters were able to find safety, but most of the troops weren't so lucky. One by one they were stuck down. Any who survived the first few seconds fired everywhere, but most couldn't avoid the deadly bullets fired. After just ten seconds the firing stopped. More than eighty percent of the troops guarding the generator were dead. To make matters worse, a dozen troop transports came rolling down the road. Mizuki started to breath heavily, due to exhaustion.

"Is this going to be the end?" She asked

"No, we're going to make it. Don't give up on me." Akio said.

* * *

"Those aren't empty promises, are they?"

The question, asked in desperation, in two very different places.

Mizuki asked, looking down death on the field of glory, the other asked by Karel. Asking in a medical tent.

"No, everything will be alright." Gael answered. Her forces were sent to protect the shield generator. She looked tired.

"You look awful."

"I've been working nonstop on our hunter friend here. He's taken a beating. Clearing enough of the stump to put the arm on was difficult. Much greater than I anticipated. The metal made it difficult."

"Is he alright?"

"Yes, but he's going to have to go to a real hospital soon."

"And the team with him a bet."

"Most likely. Bora will be much easier to deal with. You should go back to the battle."

"I have some ability to heal. I'm no master but I can be helpful."

"The empire is closing in on the generator, and if they destroy it we're all going to be in trouble." Gael said. Karel clenched his fist.

"Hey, don't worry, she's in good hands."

"I'll trust you." Karel left the tent, on his way to the generator.

The empire showed off their hard work, with almost two years of training, the empire has finally showed their elites, the Marines. They were all on the level of fully trained hunters. All were proficient in multiple forms of weapons. They also outnumbered the remaining troops.

"We're going to be put in the history books. Trust me." Akio said

"Yes, a last great stand against impossible odds. Let's give the historians something to write about." Mizuki said.

The first Marine ran past Mizuki and Akio, running into the troops. He pulled out a lance, driving it into four people before running towards the generator.

He was about to destroy it, when a blue lightsaber was in his chest. Karel landed on the Marine and pulled the lightsaber out of the Marine's chest.

"You're not alone." Karel said. Two of the grey Jedi jumped down, killing two marines. Fifty alliance troops went to the mouth of the road, creating a wall in front of the generator.

Echo was sitting on the edge of a building tossing a lightsaber up and down. Jet was searching the body of the third grey Jedi for anything important. After she found what she was looking for she set the body on fire and went to where Jet was.

"Why are you just sitting here?"

"I'm watching the fight."

Karel has been coming up with a new fighting style, and a battle like this is the perfect place to test it out. He had all three of his lightsabers with him. He jumped in front of the crowd and threw two of his lightsabers into marines. HK droids jumped out of the buildings, out numbering the alliance almost eight to one. Karel drew his blue lightsaber and used the force to make his other two lightsabers circle in an X shape. He had never tired this before, but he had heard of a Sith lord who did this, and a few Jedi. As the droids landed, some of them were cut down.

If anyone got into the inner circle Karel would use his main lightsaber to defend himself, which he had to do. He had to focus on the lightsabers, but he was able to put all his emotions into the force, using them to move him forward. He the circle was effective, but not efficient. Karel was taking notes of what he could do to make it better.

"Don't just stand there, fight!" Karel said. He knew he was just stalling for the main force to arrive, but he didn't need to mention that. Many of the Marines avoided the circle of death. Karel couldn't go after them because of the stress of what he was doing. Akio was able to get to one. This marine had a falchion. He tired to cut Akio down, but he dodged the swing, and he sliced the blade in two. The marine grabbed Akio by the face and threw him into the wall of a building. Akio used the force to protect himself as best as he could, but he would be feeling that pain.

Mizuki ended up cutting down the Marine that threw Akio. Akio got up and jumped over Mizuki, decapitating a marine who was about to plunge his sword into Mizuki.

"Now you have to watch out."

Karel had cut down quite a few of the droids, but he couldn't keep up what he was doing for long, so he called back the blades to his hands. He quickly put them away and went forward.

The HK droids that weren't fighting Karel were firing at the remaining alliance troops. They were doing much better now that they weren't being surprise attacked. That doesn't mean they had a long lifespan, since the Marines were cutting them down. The Marines were numbering fewer and fewer, but they had one single mission. Ten Marines were killed, all but one by surprise attacks. They killed more and more of the few troops that remained. The bodies started to fill the street.

Ten alliance troops were left to defend against the marine onslaught. That was until the 87th legion arrived. The 87th and the 54th were sent to keep defend the city, but more than half of the 54th legion was killed.

The 87th legion was under the direct control of Soleil. They had been in a few small battles.

The 87th arrived with two tanks. The tanks fired into the crowd of HK droids. Eight droids were destroyed. The 87th's troops fired at the marines. The marines were less than fifty in number, and with them losing so many, they had to abandon the attack for now. Three more Marines were injured in the evacuation. One of the Marines was able to kill twenty troops before he was killed.

With the Marines having to quickly leave the sight of the fighting, the HK droids were alone. They were still deadly. They fought hard, even managing to get a deep wound on Akio before they were all destroyed. The Alliance members counted their dead, and they lost 13 times as many as the imperials lost.

* * *

"They're going to attack again once they've got a force strong enough to break through the defenses." Karel said.

Akio tried to speak, but he was told to conserve his energy. Karel got out a Bacta needle and shot it in him.

Karel was running low Bacta. "What is there on this planet that could work as well as Bacta?"

He wondered where the third grey Jedi was, but he assumed the grey Jedi was leading the attack in another sector. He had to get back to Bora. He went to the medical tent.

"You're going to get a third patient. Akio Jin. He was badly wounded."

"What about the Generator?"

"We've got that covered for the time being. Have you received word about the legion that arrived today?"

"The 122nd? They a little green behind the ears, but they can be molded into the finest warriors."

"Who leads them?"

"Currently, they're under the Alliance military until they can determine a leader." Akio was brought into the tent.

"I'll get to work on him immediately." Gael placed Akio on a third bed and started her surgery. "I might need some help with this one, so please stay nearby." She told Karel.

"Alright."

Gael applied pressure to the wound. Thankfully someone put on a layer to try to stop the bleeding. Gael used the force to clean the wound and apply pressure on it. The would was on Akio's side, so Gael couldn't use a tourniquet. She got out bandages and wrapped them around the wound. She got on gloves and told Karel to keep the pressure on the wound.

Gael got everything she would need to clean the wound more accurately. Soon the bleeding stopped.

"Now we clean the wound, take off the bandages." Karel grabbed scissors and cut the bandages. Gael moved the bandages out of the way and she placed a wood block in Akio's mouth. She poured hot water then alcohol into the wound. Akio clenched down on the wood. Gael used the force to calm him, and to help with the healing process. After she was sure it wasn't going to become infected, she started to stich Akio up.

"He lost a lot of blood. Do you have any around?"

"Do you know what blood type he is?"

"No."

"Type O it is." Gael gave Akio blood, and took out the wood. "He'll be better in a few days, but he might have to go back."

"Thank you."

Mizuki entered the tent and saw Akio.

"Don't worry, he'd going to be fine." Gael said

"Good. Good." Mizuki said. "We finally destroyed that bridge, so the imperials won't be crossing it any time soon.

"Good. That means we just must worry about those in the city.

"There shouldn't be too many."

"I hope so." Karel went next to Bora. He moved her hair from her eyes. "Stay safe. I need to go get your helmet."

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 24**

Karel had spent the night going through the city looking for any imperials, but he didn't find any. He got the helmet, and all the stuff he had to abandon. He was able to fit it all in a backpack, albeit a large one, and he was able to bring it to a building closer to the medical bay.

Karel looked at the helmet and he knew what he was going to make into when he got back. He spent the rest of the day going around the city, or in the medical tent.

Gael stayed busy, as more and more injured came in. The Alliance sent dozens of medics in with medical supplies. She was happy to get the help, but she needed to move the tent to a building. Once inside she moved her patients. She sent out Xar to help in the battle, and when that finished up she sent him to get medical herbs. Pare was well known for their herbs. It was one of its biggest money makers.

Mizuki visited Akio often. When she wasn't watching over him she was making plans for the next attack. She was given control of sixteen squads from the 72nd legion that arrived recently. She made an efficient system of patrol and helped Soleil.

Echo and Jet were the last of the imperials in the city. He had kept hidden and started to practice with his trophy. He analyzed the dueling styles of all the Jedi that he had seen, and the videos of the Sith. Jet was learning Echo's style of fighting, when to fight and when not to. She also was responsible to keep watch of them.

Soleil was starting to realize that this battle was going to last a long time. It might even end up being the longest lasting battle of the war. The politicians didn't see that. They thought his last request was just a waste of supplies. He was extremely frustrated, but he kept a picture of his daughter with him. He looked at it often. He knew what he was fighting for.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 29**

The days went by as they had the day before. It was quiet. No one like the quiet. Bora woke up and was cleared for fighting.

Akio was able to fight again, and it was as if the wounds he received never happened.

Xar was to thank for that. He found many helpful herbs and natural materials that helped.

Karel walked into the tent and saw Bora. He walked over and hugged her. "We need to go back to Vale." He said. "We've been called back.

"We understand, you're needed some place else. We won't stand in the way. You know what to do to those imperials out there." Gael said

Bora got up and got her clothes from Gael. Gael took her to a private room to change. She came back out and thanked Gael.

"It's my mission."

Bora and Karel boarded his ship, and they flew off. The Imperials were still there, but they didn't fire at them.

"Strange." Karel said.

Something started to pull on his ship.

"A tractor beam?" Karel asked.

"What?" Bora said.

"It's a smaller ship." Karel looked at everything he could do to get out of this, but he didn't have enough time. The ship docked in a bay.

"Looks like we've got to fight our way out of this one."

Karel punched a button and the droids on the ship activated. He lowered the ramp of his ship, and he saw six imperials. He jumped into action. He pushed them against the wall, then let them drop.

"How many are there?"

"Fifty of us, give up Jedi."

"You obviously don't know who I am. I am Karel Allusis."

The imperials all raised their weapons to get a shot at him, but none of them had the opportunity. Bora came down holding her pistols. "Now we only got forty-four left." She said

"I've got the lead."

"Whoever takes out more pays for dinner next." Bora said

"Deal."

Karel went to the door and cracked the code, but he didn't unlock the door. He went to the wall and cut a hole in the wall large enough he could walk through it, then he opened the door, and used the force to hit four imperials. Bora rolled into the room and fired into four more imperials. She grabbed a grenade and tossed it at a group of imperials. Three more for Bora.

"That's seven for me."

"And ten for me." Karel smiled.

"Then I've got to step up." Bora and Karel moved though the ship, and they each killed three more imperials each.

"I've got three more than you."

"There's still more than half of them left. I can still pull ahead."

They moved to what had to be the bridge. The doors opened, and everyone had guns pointed at Karel. Bora was quicker and shot four down before they could fire. Karel let out a force push that knocked everyone down. Bora fired off a wrist rocket and took out six.

Karel threw his lightsaber and killed two people. He jumped and pulled out his saber. He cut down two more. One threw a grenade, but Karel jumped up and threw it back. Three more dead.

Karel had twenty-five at the end, and Bora had twenty-four. The Captain was the last person. The captain pulled out a pistol on Karel, but Bora shot him.

"That's twenty-five for both of us."

"Then we split the bill"

* * *

They flew the ship into Vale, but they sent out all the signals to announce that it's been captured. The Alliance had a special signal for captured enemy ships.

Roni was waiting for Karel and Bora to leave the ship. When they did she clapped.

"I'm impressed, you took out an enemy ship by yourselves. This shows us that our decision was right. Karel, Bora, follow me."

Karel and Bora followed Roni to the War room.

Ozpin, Ironwood, Winter, and many of the Generals were there.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, on the contrary. Karel, you are a Jedi knight, a skilled hunter in training, a warrior, and a leader. You are one of the very few people that have fought in a war before this. You have shown that you are strong, and now you have captured an imperial ship." Roni said

"He did?" Ironwood asked

"On our way here, yes." Karel said.

"The two of you were also responsible for the defeat of the Sith Inquisitor A year and a half ago." Ozpin added

"And I have a personal witness that you are a man of integrity." Winter added. She winked at Karel.

"We have decided to ask you this. Will you lead the 122nd legion?" Roni asked.

This hit Karel like a sac of bricks.

"And Bora, we offer you to be the second in command."

"I'm willing to do it." She answered.

Karel though hard. He knew what this would mean.

"I'll do it."

"Congratulations are in order, but first, we'll need to replace the 122nd. Now that you're going to be in command of a legion we're going to need you to go though some training. You're still going to have missions, but now we you won't have to wonder who worry about backup" One of the generals said

"Think of how Obi Wan led the 212nd That will be the role you play."

Karel and Bora Saluted.

"You're the youngest legion leader we have. Probably the youngest we'll have." Ironwood said.

"It's a great honor." Karel said.

"Now that you're leading a legion, you're entitled to a more permanent home. We'll figure that out soon."

"I'm going to own property at 18?"

"Yes." Winter said.

"We'll make it official in one month's time." Ozpin said. "And you get to keep the ship that you captured."

"I thank you all again." Karel bowed.

After He left he knew that he was going to use the metal much sooner than he though. Karel melted the metal and took it to a blacksmith.

"Are you sure you want me to make this? The metal is very rare that you have here."

"I'm positive."

"Alright. Come back in a few hours and I'll have your order complete."

Karel did as was told, but he didn't know where he was going to go. He went back to his apartment and packed everything up that didn't need to stay out. When he looked at the time he saw that enough time past. He went back to the blacksmith.

"I've got your order right here." It was in a small box.

"There was only enough metal for two."

"That's perfect."

Karel opened the box and looked at the pair of Rings.

 _ **Author's Notes: Hope you all like Halloween. I had a good time. I hope you liked this chapter, and you can bet that you haven't seen the end of Pare.**_

 _ **I think you guys know what I mean by that last line.**_

 _ **I hope you do…**_

 _ **Karel now has two ships that need to be named. You guys can be the one to name the ships.**_

 _ **Leave a favorite and a review.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	9. Chapter 8: Investigation

**Chapter 8**

 **Year 0 Month 2 Day 5**

 **With the 122** **nd** **now under the control of Karel, and having left the city of Pare, being replaced by the 95** **th** **legion, the battle has slowed at Pare. Other battles rage across Remnant. All this make it easy for a single person to slip by unnoticed.**

Jash Beam was doing something that many would call stupid. He was trying to enter mistral as a refugee. Mistral has been taking more and more people in recently.

"So, why are you coming to Mistral?" One of the refugees asked Jash.

"I'm going to stay with my cousin. He was at the coronation. His name's Tanner." Jash needed to investigate the house Tanner had. No one has been able to get to it yet. Now is the first opportunity he's had to get to Mistral. He needed to get to the house.

"I'm going to join the empire. I see the writing on the wall. The Empire will win the war by the end of the year."

"What about the Jedi?" Jash asked.

"If there were a lot of them, wouldn't they have been out killing Grimm all the time? How come the Grimm have only gone missing in the past two years?" The man said.

"Yeah. But what if they're a lot of them?" Jash said. The man took out a flask and took a sip.

"Men bleed." Men bleed indeed.

The man handed Jash the flask, and he took a sip.

"If you join the army, you might just become a hero."

"You want to be a hero?"

"Fortune and Glory friend. Fortune and Glory." He takes back the flask.

* * *

The ride went on like that. Everyone got off, and Jash wave bye to the man. He had one mission to accomplish. He started to walk towards where Tanner's house was, but after he was away from prying eyes he called his horse. It was a black horse that he named Veli.

It neighed.

"It's good to see you again. How've you been?" It neighed again in response.

"We've got to go to Tanner's house. Remember where that is?" The horse angrily neighed. "Hey, I don't know how your memory is."

They raced off to Tanner's house, and not a single Grimm was in the way. Jash looked out for them but didn't find any. He was a bit surprised but was glad. The trip went on for a few hours when he stopped by a river. Veli was drinking the river water while Jash was figuring out how far he was from Tanner's house.

He determined that it would be a three day's journey. He saw a few farms along the way, one close by. After Veli got his full of water and grass Jash got back on the saddle. He was still worried about Tanner. Everything he found at the temple pointed to a single direction. Salem. Though it wasn't much. Salem wasn't the first one to become like her.

Two other times this happened, creating the Grimm, the greatest of all being the dragon, and the other time creating wild Grimm. The Jedi were there to stop it both times.

Jash went to a Farmer and knocked on his door. The farmer opened it.

"Do you have a place where my Horse and I can stay. We've got a long journey tomorrow."

"Yeah… I've got room in my barn. Sorry I can't give more." The farmer pointed to a barn house.

"That's plenty. Here, let me pay for it."

"You're a funny one stranger. I'll take the money, and you have my thanks. I'll be able to feed my animals with this. You can give your horse any food he needs."

"Thank you again." Jash said to the farmer.

He went to the barn and gave Veli some feed. He got himself a bed of straw and placed a tarp on it. He fell asleep fast.

Jash woke up early the next morning. He and Veli left the barn.

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 7**

Much of the second day was like the first, with a large distance traveled. Jash found another farmer who let him stay at the farm, and he fed Veli.

This day started like the last one.

It wasn't until noon when he got to Tanner's house, or what was left of it. Jash took pictures of the house and looked around the area. This house had been burnt down for months. Jash knew one thing about Tanner, and that was he hid away his greatest discoveries, and only had the tip of the iceberg findable.

Jash took out a drone and it flew above the tree lines. It would find any patterns. He walked in the ash. He knew where Tanner liked to hide his studies. He walked to a floor board that was under a window. He kicked the spot and lifted the burnt wood. He saw a safe sitting, untouched by fire. Jash used the force to bring it up.

The drone detected a pattern. There were 18 sugar maple, 32 apple trees, and 7 white birch trees.

The combination to the safe. Jash turned the dial to 18, then to 32, then to 7.

The safe opened. Jash saw only a single paper.

REPORT 12

Salem is the creator of many of the modern Grimm. She was once a Jedi but fell. Finding out if Others know where to find her. From my readings I've found something odd. A very strange Unique ritual. To be able to go to Salem's Realm one first needs the blood of a Jedi. It is a Trouble to be able to get the blood. Further studies are needed if any Jedi will do. My resources Have been limited recently.

Find next reports.

"He hid another report in the southern section." Jash analyzed the report and sent it and the pictures back to the Temple.

The drone made a geographic map of the land, and he was in the East section of it.

"This is an easier clue. The south… How big is that?" He looked at the size of the map, and the south section was seven acres.

"Scan for metallic substances in the area. If you find any send me the location."

The drone beeped. It came back with a new map, three areas that have over a pound of metal.

"Good Job."

* * *

Jash went to the first spot and saw a shovel. "This isn't the spot. Something is wrong about this. Jash dug it up anyways. It was a box that had iron ore in it.

Jash moved to the second spot with the shovel and found that an animal dug a whole. Jash used the force and brought the metal item out of the ground. It was a chest with a metal lock on it. Jash cut the lock and opened the chest. He found three papers.

Reports 1, 5, and 8

Report one was about the assignment, and where Tanner started.

Report five was background information about Salem. Her entire time as a Jedi and everyone major in that time of her life.

Report 8 was important

I have reason to believe that Salem and her forces can come from the Shadows. If the land is dark Salem can appear there. That's why my house has motion activation lights around it. Salem can convert people over to her side, but only after they have died. Salem injects the person with something like liquid Grimm.

Once this substance enters the body, the appearance will change. The body will become white as snow, except for veins and the eyes. People will look like Salem.

Summer Rose, before her death captured one of Salem's inner circle. The member didn't look like Salem so one of two things happened. Either it fades over time, or Salem can change appearances. I lean towards latter.

Summer Rose's body was found with a wound in the lower abdomen, and her eyes were no longer silver. She had the eyes of a blind person. She fought Salem, and her body was found. Summer Rose was one of the best fighters. Be careful when fighting Salem.

Jash looked up the name of Summer Rose and read about her. She was also the mother of one of the current Jedi.

What was the next clue…

Jash thought about it. He still had the third spot to go to. He went to it and dug at the spot the map marked. He saw a box, and in it was Iron plates? Jash grabbed the plates and looked over them. It didn't have any writing.

"Must have been a project. Weird."

An idea popped in his head. He went back to the last sight and picked what was left of the lock. He scanned it and found it was iron.

Iron was the clue.

What about Iron though? He thought about it. Its atomic number was 26, it's symbol FE. Plates, lock, and ore.

"The element!" Jash said out loud. Plates, P. Phosphorous.

Lock… L? There was no L.

There's an O, oxygen. L… Lithium?

What uses Lithium Oxygen and Phosphorous?

Lithium is used in batteries, Phosphorous is used for flares, Oxygen burns in flares. A flare is a light.

Motion tracking lights! He mentioned them. He went to motion tracking lights and found an X on the ground.

"Really?" Jash said. He dug and found another box. He opened it and found a large folder. All the reports minus 1 were here. There were 18 reports, and 13 was missing. Every report after 13 strongly mentioned it.

Jash took pictures of each of the reports and sent them to the Temple. He looked over the reports. He found nothing.

He read them repeatedly. He looked for a single clue that would be pushing itself out. Any ideas he came up with were nonsensical. He looked over them one last time and noticed only once was a place mentioned that wasn't Salem's Realm. In report 15 Tanner mentioned a place he called

"Nixvajo?" Jash searched for that name but nothing came up.

* * *

"Remember, if you ever lose me, you'll find me." Jash was having a flash back.

"Where will you be?" Jash was on top of a Canyon.

"This place is where I will hide my most important things. Can I trust you with its name?" Tanner asked.

"Of course," Jash said

"This is the Nixen Canyon, with the Vajon river. I shall call it Nixvajo."

* * *

Jash opened his eyes. Where was it… He remembered. It was in the deserts of Menagerie. He was about to send the location to the temple when he heard a lightsaber activate.

Jash looked up and saw Tanner. His skin pale white with black veins.

"No. She got you?"

"Yes. Do you remember where Nixvajo is?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Good. You're the last person I showed that place to."

"So, I have to kill you to get the last report?"

"Yes. In it is the key to defeating Salem."

Jash turned on his blue lightsaber. He and Tanner started to circle each other. Tanner was the first to move. He was a master of form V. He was aggressive to say the least. Jash fought with Tanner before, but he never beat Tanner. Their last skirmish ended in a tie.

Jash had a good defense, but he knew he wouldn't be able to beat Tanner like this. He moved to the grove of trees that gave him the combination. Tanner cut a tree down and threw it at Jash.

Jash jumped to the side.

"Why are you fighting me?"

"I can't help it. Salem has control over me."

Tanner jumped into the tops of the trees. Jash couldn't find him. Jash looked and looked up as soon as Tanner dropped from the tree tops.

Jash jumped out of the way. As soon as he got to his feet he was hit with a force push that threw him into a tree. His scroll fell out of his pocket. Tanner gripped it with the force and crushed it.

"Now I'll have to tell them the coordinates." Jash said

"You won't get the chance. I am so sorry." Tanner rushed towards Jash. Jash blocked the hit, but not for long. The blades interlocked, but Tanner kicked Jash back. Jash had to get sneaky. Thankfully the house was right by some woods. Jash jumped into the trees and ran from branch to branch.

Tanner followed Jash and he tried to follow him. Jash was so far ahead that Tanner couldn't see him. Tanner jumped on a branch then felt a large force blast send him to the ground. It would have killed a normal person, but since Salem had boosted his endurance, he was still alive.

Jash was hiding on a branch above the spot Tanner was at. Jash used the force to grab a bee's nest, and he sent it down at Tanner. Tanner slashed the nest and sent out a command. "DIE"

His semblance was control over animals, letting him get information that most would never find. The bees all fell to the ground dead. Tanner looked up, but Jash was gone.

Tanner jumped up on the branches again and ran towards Jash. He didn't that great of a head start.

* * *

Jash was going as fast as he could. He had a few seconds on Tanner. He didn't dare look back. He had to outrun Tanner. He stepped on a branch then a net came up. Jash was caught, and shocked. He collapsed to the ground and saw Em standing over him. She pointed a pistol at him.

"Forgive us Jash, but Salem has control over us." Before Em was about to fire, Veli ran into her. Jash cut the net and got on Veli.

"Thanks boy. Let's get going." Veli ran as fast as it could. Em was out of sight.

Tanner jumped in front of Veli and threw it at a tree. Jash jumped to fight Tanner. He got a few hits in, then pushed him back. Jash went to Veli. It died instantly. Jash put his hand on his horse then rose up.

"We can't have you escaping on us now." Tanner jumped into battle. He started to go faster. Jash knew he couldn't last long like this. Jash had to go on the offensive.

Jash started jumping over Tanner trying to get an attack on the back of his leg, but Tanner spun around quickly, and blocked the lightsaber. He knew what Jash was doing.

"You always used form IV as a trump card." Tanner knew he didn't have to wait long for this battle to end. No one can do Form IV for a long time.

Jash just needed one opening. Tanner was able to block every hit. Jash decided to do something dangerous. He turned off his lightsaber for a second and got a hit on Tanner's arm.

Tanner couldn't use his left arm anymore. Jash landed on the ground and dashed down the road.

"Clever." Tanner said, following right behind him.

* * *

Jash was running and felt that something was coming. A bolt came right at him. He deflected the shot but didn't see who fired it. He had an Idea.

Em was moving from shadow to shadow firing a shot at the road. Each shot Jash sent back, but he slowed down.

Tanner was able to catch up to Jash, and he hit Jash with a large force push. Jash fell down rolling on the road. He was bleeding and had lots of scrapes. He got up to Tanner trying to drive his lightsaber in him. He jumped behind the blade and slashed at Tanner. Tanner blocked the hit.

"What's the key to defeating Salem?"

"I can't say. Salem has wiped that from my mind. She doesn't want us to find out how we can kill her."

Jash spun and kicked Tanner in the jaw.

Tanner grabbed his jaw and went to get a killing blow.

Jash moved to the side, and force pushed Tanner into a tree. The tree collapsed.

"You've gotten better Jash."

"When did you die?"

"It was eight months ago. The day of the coronation." Tanner picked himself up.

"Who killed you?"

"I didn't see them. I know it was a woman, but nothing after that. Em saw her."

A bear came out of the forest and tried to attack Jash, He avoided the claw, then he cut its paw. He jumped on it and killed it.

Tanner was up and ready to fight, but he called the animals to tire out Jash.

* * *

Jash fought with birds, deer, squirrels, and every animal nearby. After a few minutes, then all fled. Tanner was ready to continue the fight, but Jash wasn't feeling so up to it.

"It's now or never Jash. Either I kill you here, or you kill me, and the Jedi find out how to destroy Salem. What are you going to choose?"

"I'm sorry that I have to kill you."

"As am I" Tanner ran towards Jash.

Jash blocked every hit. Tanner's hits weren't so powerful anymore. Jash was able to block and not lose huge amounts of energy.

Tanner knew this. He knew he would have to do something, but he didn't know what.

They were in a blade lock again.

"Why did you hide so many reports in one place?" Jash asked

"Who would have thought that the answer was the elements? You would have to know that nothing's off the table with me. How many people do you think there are that know me?"

"Why'd you kill my horse?"

"I didn't mean to. I meant to get you."

"Here I am."

"So you are."

"You win Jash. After we break this lock I won't have any more energy to attack you. You win."

"I don't want to kill you."

"I know. I know. You have to." Tanner was starting to breath heavily.

"Please forgive me."

"You know I do." Tanner dropped his lightsaber.

Jash got ready to cut Tanner down.

"I'm sorry."

Jash closed his eyes.

* * *

The smell of burning flesh filled the air. Tanner looked at Jash. A black lightsaber was coming out of his back. Jash turned back and saw Uriel Ventris. Yang and Cinder's Jedi master.

"I've… failed."

Uriel took his blade out of Jash. Jash Beam's body fell to the ground. He wasn't dead yet.

"But I… gave them all… but… one. Take my… body back to… Vale." Jash closed his eyes for the last time.

Tanner looked at Uriel.

"I won't forgive you for that." Tanner said

"I didn't expect you to. We need to get back. Salem won't like losing any of her undead Jedi." Uriel grabbed Jash's body. He walked into the shadows and came back out in Vale. It was night. Uriel was near the temple. He placed the body at the steps of the temple, then went back into the shadows.

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 8**

Meg Deckerson walked down the stairs of the temple and saw the body.

She went to it and saw that it was Jash Beam. A tear came down her face. She picked up the body and took it inside the temple. One of the masters were walking past the entrance when Meg walked in holding onto Jash's body.

Emerald Ray went to Meg. She looked at the face and knew who it was.

"No. We were still getting notices from him a few hours ago. How'd this happen?" She took off her cape and place it over Jash.

"What?" Meg asked.

"We need to get him to the morgue. There we can talk."

They went to the bottom floor, past the med bay, into the morgue. A Jedi doctor was there. He turned and saw the two Jedi.

"Who is it?" The doctor asked.

"Jash Beam." Master Rey said

The Jedi didn't say anything. He went over and took Jash out of Meg's hands.

"He was with me for a whole month on our mission."

"We should go outside. I'll tell you everything then." Master Rey leads Meg out of the room.

"Who did this?" Meg asked.

"You know about Salem, right?"

"Yeah. Did she do this?"

"Most likely. Or one of her servants. We sent Jash on a mission to find out more about Salem. Do you remember Jedi Tanner?" Rey asked

"Somewhat? What does this have to do with anything?"

"Everything. Jash went to Tanner's base of operation on Mistral. He sent back pictures of reports that Tanner has written. It seems like he found out how to kill Salem, which is why he was killed. Jash found 17 of Tanner's Reports. One is mission, the one that holds the secrets. The fact that Jash got so close must have scared Salem. This is all speculation at the moment."

"Why didn't he didn't he send the last one?"

"I would assume that he didn't have it. We don't know how to find it. Not yet. But someday we will."

"Then we'll kill Salem." Meg said

"Don't let vengeance cloud your mind."

Meg shook her head.

"I'm sorry master."

"It's alright."

* * *

Emerald had to inform the rest of the council now.

She went to the council room, and saw Roni was the only one there.

"We need to have a council meeting immediately."

"What happened?"

"Jash Beam is dead." Roni stopped what she was doing, and she called the other Jedi masters.

"What happened? Vester Brock said through hologram.

"Jash Beam is dead. His body appeared on the steps of the temple. He was just about to find out how to defeat Salem." Ray said

"Do we have anything that he sent us?"

"Yes, we have 17 reports, missing one. All we know is that after 13 all the reports point to it saying it's how we defeat Salem."

"Do we know where the last one is?" The grandmaster asked.

"No. Jash sent one last message saying the last report wasn't on the property."

"So that just leaves the rest of Remnant." Roni said. "And we can't even easily get to a very large part of it."

"Don't forget the War." Brock added.

"I know. We can't look for it yet. The empire is too strong."

"Then we'll have to wait until we can." The grandmaster said.

"These are dark times."

 _ **Author's Notes: So, that's the completion of one plotline. We have to say goodbye to Jash Beam.**_

 _ **The Jedi still have much to learn before they can get to the mystical Report 13.**_

 _ **I think I deserve a little break. This past week I've done a lot of writing for this story and for Heart of Death: Karel's Story.**_

 _ **Who saw that new Smash Bros. Direct. They killed everyone but Kirby. Now I've got to main Kirby.**_

 _ **May The Force Be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	10. Chapter 9: Menagerie

**Chapter 9**

 **Year 0 Month 2 Day 14**

 **As the war rages on more and more people have been joining the army. The battle rage on, but there is no sign of either side stopping. The Empire have decided to Attack a Major ally of the Alliance.**

Ilia was walking along the road, talking to the leader of the 122nd legion, Karel. They were at Menagerie in a routine checkup and resupply. On this mission Velvet and Sun decided to go with the legion.

Bora was checking up on the troops stationed there. She had taken to her role as second in command exceptionally well.

"The Red Fang haven't yet had to fight in a battle. I think that will change." Karel said

"Why do you think so?"

"Because of Pare. It has the makings of a long-lasting battle. I was there a few days ago. So was Bora."

"The Red Fang have helped in attacking the supply ships."

"Yes, but a full-scale battle is going to happen. I think it will happen sooner rather than later. Is the red Fang ready for that?"

"I think so."

A troop came running up.

"Sir, our scans show two imperial ships are coming. They're warships sir."

"Ready the men. We defend the city. Send two squads to the Belladonna residence, and another two to where Khan is." Karel had stepped into his role. It was like it was meant for him.

"Now's your chance to flex your muscles."

"I'll get my forces ready." Ilia ran off.

Karel took out his scroll. "Bora, the Empire's coming."

"I know. I've got Velvet with me. You get Sun."

"Alright." Karel ended the call, then called Sun. "Sun, get to the docks. We're under attack."

"What? I didn't think the empire was this stupid."

"No time to boast. We need all hands-on Deck."

"Alright. Be there in a sec."

The empire didn't fire at the city, they just moved forward.

"Why aren't they firing?"

* * *

The Admiral leading the mission wanted to show the Alliance that it can't hold the city. He wanted it to be personal. He was going to kill the Red Fang traders.

"Admiral Percy, do we fire on the city?"

"No. We take them on the beaches. We take them in the town, we burn down the Belladonna homestead, and we wipe out all Alliance forces."

"We have a report that the 122nd legion is stationed at the island. Including their leader."

"Who leads them?" Admiral Percy asked.

"Jedi Knight Karel Allusis."

"That fool. We'll test him and his forces." He looked at the island.

* * *

The ships landed at the docks, and lowered Ramps. The imperials went down the ramp first were met with the 122nd and members of Red Fang. Any that got to the bottom of the Ramp were able to get behind boxes or any sort of cover. The firefight ruined the tents, which were now abandoned. The imperials on the ship used it to fire down on the Red fang.

Legion 122 had 95 squads in it. The legion itself had around 1250 people in it. Squads 1-8 were at the beach head to meet the enemy.

The empire wiped out squad 2 completely. Squads 3 and 7 moved towards the tents and opened fire on the imperials. Some of the imperial moved up, bringing flame troops with them. They torched the tents. The red fang had to retreat into the city. Squad 1 and 4 covered the retreat. The captain of squad 3 threw a dust grenade at the imperials.

The Empire soon had the docks of the city. The fighting moved into the city. Many civilians were still in the city.

Karel ran to the beach Head with Sun.

"Protect the civilians!" Karel said.

"What are we going to do?" Sun asked.

"Squads 9 through 14 are going to move up. We need to hold off the imperials long enough for them to arrive. Bora and Velvet should be getting here soon.

Bora called.

"The imperials are splitting in two. Velvet and I are pinned down on the right side of the town. Squads 3 and 7 are with us." Bora fired her pistols. "We can't get to you. Sorry."

"It's okay. Just stay safe."

"Is that an Order?"

"Yes." Karel hung up. He grabbed two lightsabers and threw them into oncoming imperials.

"Sun, take the to the roofs."

"Gotcha" Sun jumped up and ran towards the crowd.

"Good." Karel turned on his blue lightsaber and used the same technique he used at Pare. He figured out what was missing, but to get what he would need to perfect the technique would be difficult.

The spinning X of Yellow and Purple amazed the imperials.

"Don't stop firing men!" Karel shouted. The imperials stopped firing for a few seconds, but that proved deadly. The 122nd opened fire at the imperials. Karel was still walking forward. It was still hard to walk and make the X follow him.

The imperials finally brought up their guns again, but it was too late. Karel reached out and activated all the grenades on the imperials, then moved boxes to cover the main road. As soon as the grenades went off Karel used the force to push the boxes out of the way. Some of the pier was gone now. Karel kept walking, with the click of his boots being louder. The buzz of the lightsabers overpowered every other sound.

Karel didn't see any more imperials nearby, so he called his lightsabers back. It took a lot out of him to do that trick, but it always distracted the enemy. The one thing that would make the trick better if he had one more lightsaber.

Karel went to the pier and saw Sun fighting back two imperials at the same time. His gun nunchucks were impressive. Karel ordered his men to move up. They were retaking the lost land. The Red Fang joined with the 122nd in moving up. Karel stopped squad 6.

"My second in command and squads 3 and 7 are pinned down on the other side of the town. Go help them."

"Yes sir." Squad six moved out.

Squads 9-14 arrived

"Squads 10 and 11, move to the other side of the town. We have troops pinned down there. Everyone, fire at the ship."

"Yes sir." They said. Squad 9 was a specialty squad, a heavy squad. They had rocket launchers.

They moved forward, and Squad 9 got to work immediately. They started to fire at the ship. Then a new type of unit walked down the ramps.

* * *

Bora and Velvet were pinned down. Squad 3 was wiped out. They were having to move further back. Squad 6 arrived, which helped.

Bora shot a wrist rocket at a group of Imperials that were moving up. Most of them droids. Squad 7 was proving itself to be a great asset. They weren't losing people, and they were well trained. Bora liked them. Velvet hadn't used her weapon yet.

"When will you use your weapon?"

"Can I take a picture of you?"

"What?"

"Trust me, I'll need it."

"Fine."

"Thank You." Velvet took Bora's picture, then she held out her hand.

A copy of Crescent Rose came to her hand. She ran forward, and right before she would have been hit, she jumped up in the air, then came down on top of a droid. Her weapon changed to Myrtenaster, Weiss' weapon.

She took out four people with the weapon, then it changed to Ember Celica. Velvet's weapons were changing, and she was able to use them like the user. After Ember Celica it changed to Gambol Shroud. Bora liked Velvet like this. Velvet took care of the imperials after Blake's weapon. She turned her weapon off to not waste the rest of the weapons.

"That was impressive."

"Thank you." Velvet said with a smile on her face. One of the imperials were about to get up, but one of squad 7 shot him.

Squads 10 and 11 showed up, too late.

"We were sent by Commander Allusis. It looks like you have it under control."

"Let's get back to the pier."

"Yes sir"

Bora and her group got to the Pier and saw a new type of unit.

The unit was a juggernaut. It was heavily armored with a heavy gun. It would take a few hits to take this thing down, and there were thirty of them.

They opened fire. Karel was able to deflect the bullets, but many of his men couldn't do the same. One of squad 9 fired a dust filled rocket at one of these things. It hit, killing it, but only it. The others were just fine. Behind them more imperials came down from the ramps.

Bora shot a flare to the sky, sending a signal out. Yellow. Three snub fighters came out from behind a hill.

The fighters made an attack run, one on the first ship's guns, a second on the enemy, and a third on the bridge of the enemy ship. The first two were successful, but the third one was shot down by the second ship.

Yellow was one attack run. The snub ships returned to where they were stationed. With the first ship damage, Bora was excited to see what the imperials on the pier were like. The smoke faded, and only the juggernauts hit head on were dead. Four. The rest moved forward and continued to fire.

Squad 5 tried to fight them, but they were wiped out. The Juggernauts were pushing the Alliance back. Karel ordered his men to fall back. They were going to use the square.

The Red Fang didn't want to move back.

"What are you doing?" Karel asked.

"We're waiting for the aquatic faunas to attack."

There were twelve explosions on the damaged ship. The ship had twelve small holes in it.

* * *

Admiral Percy was made aware of the damage on the other ship.

"Try to Patch the holes up. If you can't give everyone a gun and get off the ship."

"Yes sir."

Percy was impressed that they made use of aquatic faunas. He would have to notify Mistral that the Alliance has aquatic troops. They should train a few of them.

Percy thought of firing the cannons but decided that he would only do that if his ship was sinking. He was happy to see that the armor for the juggernauts was holding up so well. He'll have to thank whoever made it.

* * *

The imperials moved forward. Alliance troops did their best to stop the Juggernauts, but the armor was too good. Sometimes the bullets just died on impact. Squad 9 only had three dust rockets.

Squad 7 had armor piercing rounds. The two juggernauts that were taken down were by Squad 7.

The imperials moved to the town square. A mortar round was fired, and the rest of everyone from squads 15-25 fired at the imperials. After a few seconds they stopped and reloaded. They pointed their guns at the dust cloud.

Two more juggernauts were dead. Karel jumped down from a building top and jammed a lightsaber into one of the juggernauts. They were still weak to that.

Ilia came up with some of the best of the Red Fang. She shot her weapon at the space between the helmet and the rest of the armor. It was a weak spot. The juggernaut she hit fell to the ground.

Everyone opened fire again. Now that the weak spot was known to everyone, everyone fired at them. Morale was raised.

* * *

The leader of Squad 42 was at the Belladonna residence.

"We're handling the attack. There is no need for you to worry."

"I can see smoke in the town square. Are you telling me you let them get that far up?" Ghira said.

"Sir, we have it under control."

"I'm going." Ghira said.

"We should stay here." Kali said.

"But."

"The leader of the legion is a friend of our daughter, and the second in command helped to save this house. Did you really forget?"

"No… It's just that I hate this inaction."

"I know."

One of squad 42 went to the captain.

"I see. That may change things." The captain looked at Ghira and Kali.

"The enemy ship has it's cannons pointed right here. If they decide to fire, we're all dead. They don't seem to know where Sienna Khan is. I suggest we move you to her."

The leader of Squad 43 though about it. She thought about the risks.

"If the smoke is as bad as you fear, we could use it to hide us moving. We can get to where Khan is hiding without them noticing, so even if they decide to attack your house, you would still be alive."

"Then let's do it." Kali said.

The squad leader handed Kali a pistol.

"Just in case." Kali took it.

They moved out of the house and moved to a less obvious location. The white fang had a hideout in the city, which was abandoned. Khan had set up the headquarters of the red fang in there.

When Ghira and Kali arrived, Khan was ordering the Red Fang to move around in the battle.

"You're probably not helping the Jedi leading the battle." Ghira said

"I think we put too much faith in them." Sienna Khan said. "But… we're moving people to the battlefront. This is still my home. Speaking of which, why are you here?"

"My house is being targeted. They don't know where this place is."

"Alright."

* * *

Bora fired her last wrist rocket hitting in the weak spot. After it blew up, there was one more juggernaut killed. Fifteen were left. Squad 7 was still going strong, and they were able to take down another juggernaut. Other squads weren't so lucky. Bora flew next to squad 7.

"You guys are good." Bora said.

"Thank you, sir."

Bora pulled out a block of dust.

"Can any of you hit this."

"I think I can." One of the troops said.

"I need better than that."

The troop shook his head. "I can do it."

"Good." Bora threw the dust, and the troop shot it right above a juggernaut. It was fire dust. Squad 1 moved forward. One of them switched their gun to a spear. She thrusted it into the neck of one of the juggernauts. The rest went to close quarter fighting. It was dangerous, and many of them were shot, but those that survived took out two more.

Karel threw two lightsabers into a juggernaut. He ran up, dodging a swipe at his head, then he grabbed the blades. He jumped up, bringing the blades with him. There was a large gash in him now. Karel took out the blades, turning one off, then force pushing the juggernaut to the ground.

He looked up and was punched in the face. Karel quickly recovered, slashing across the offender. His armor couldn't stand up to his lightsaber.

He felt his face, nothing was broken, thanks to the force. Karel looked for Sun. He hadn't seen him for a while. He saw sun behind enemy lines, taking out the rear. Karel knew that's what they needed to do.

"Squad 17, move behind enemy lines."

"Yes sir."

Karel got cover before a rain of bullets would have at least hurt him. He looked around his surroundings and saw a family inside a house. They were huddled together. They were afraid. Karel couldn't let the people down. He took a deep breath and jumped to the roof of the house he was next to. He jumped up and landed on one of the juggernauts heads. They tried to get Karel off, but he cut off both juggernaut's arms. One of his allies opened fire at Karel, but he jumped behind the juggernaut, who took all the bullets. Karel pushed his lightsaber through him, then tossed him.

Ilia took down another Juggernaut when she saw Karel take one down with ease. She was impressed. They might be able to push the empire back again. She got back to her fight, hitting a juggernaut in the leg joint. They fell to one knee, and She was about to kill the juggernaut when she got hit from behind. She flew forward into the ground. She was going to have a mark from that.

The Red Fang came with new weapons. Ilia looked and smiled. She couldn't feel much right now, but she felt safer with them nearby. They jumped into the battle. Velvet went over to Ilia and took her somewhere safe.

"We need to get you away from the battle. You just took a huge hit."

"Yeah… I can't feel much right now."

"Don't worry. We'll take care of it from here." Velvet took Ilia to a house that has been taking in the wounded.

"Thanks…"

"My name's Velvet."

"Thanks Velvet."

"You're welcome." Velvet went back to the battle. She activated her weapon again, and this time she pulled out Coco's Handbag. She fired at one of the Juggernauts left. She was able to kill him before the weapon switched again.

This time it was Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, Sun's weapons. Sun jumped on a roof and saw Velvet. He yelled "Yeah!" Before continuing his fight. Velvet hit a juggernaut's helmet off. Which didn't end well for the juggernaut, before the weapon changed again.

It was Magnhild now, Nora's hammer. Velvet used it to smash a juggernaut, then she fired a shot, spinning into another hit. The weapon changed again to Penny's Swords

"Everyone get out of the way!" Velvet yelled before firing the laser. The hit killed most of the rest of the juggernauts. One was left.

Her weapons changed to Bora's pistols. Velvet ran to the last juggernaut and fired multiple rounds before turning off her weapon. She breathed heavily. Karel turned from where he hid from the blast and went to Velvet.

"Whatever you did, you just made this fight ten times easier. Now we just must get back to the ships and take them down. Take a breather."

"I... can… keep going."

"No, you can't. We'll be fine."

"Alright." Velvet went to an alley wall. Karel threw her a water bottle, then led his forces into battle.

* * *

Sun was a little over confident of his abilities. And out of Ammo. And bleeding. But besides that, he was good.

"Let's say we're even." Sun said, with twenty guns pointed at him.

"How about no." The squad leader said, wiping blood from his lip.

"Come on, I just hit you once."

"Men, ready." They all pointed their guns at Sun. He looked around.

"So, I'm guessing that's a no."

"Aim."

"Don't say I didn't warn ya."

"FIRE!" they fired, but Sun activated his semblance. The clones took the fire for him while he jumped behind one of the imperials, then he smacked them with his nunchucks.

Gun fire opened, and four imperials dropped dead.

Sun looked and saw the Alliance troops and Red Fang moving up.

"And that's my que to get out of here." Sun jumped on a roof, then ran back to the main group.

He jumped down in front of Karel. "I gave as good as I got."

"Good, because you got."

"Is it that bad?"

"Are you a red head?" Karel said.

"You don't mean…?" sun put his hand on his head and felt lots of blood. "This sucks."

"Just get to a medic, and you'll be all fixed up."

"Sure thing."

Karel moved forward. He men were able to push the imperials to the boats.

"Sir, what should we do?" One of the squad leaders asked.

Bora ran next to Karel.

"Should we board the ships, or just order a bombing?"

Karel thought about it.

"Let's board. If we can capture a ship from the empire, then they can't redeploy it, but we can."

"What about the one that we bombed?" Bora asked

"I think it's still sinking." Another round of explosives went off. "Definitely sinking."

"Alright. Let's move squads 17-23 on board We'll move in two groups. I'll lead the first group. Bora, you'll lead the second. I'll move above deck, you move below. Your job is to take out the guns. I'll get the leaders."

"I think we should get more squads on board. Move the third division up. Get as many Red Fang on the ship with us. We don't know who's on board."

"The third division. Squads 30-39. Alright. They'll come up. Squads 37-39 will stay off the ship with what remains of the first division." Karel sent out a message. "Third, division, move up. Squads 17-23, and 30-36, we're going to board the enemy ship. Squads 17-23 will follow Bora, everyone else will follow me. Everyone left from the first division, and squads 37-39 will stay at the pier to keep it safe for us. Move out!"

* * *

It took a few minutes, but everyone arrived.

"Team 1. Your mission is simple, we're going to take the out the guns from up here and capture the leaders of this attack. Any Red Fang members who can hear my voice, you will be with Bora. My team will be on a search and destroy mission. Bora will take group two and destroy the guns from below deck. Try to find any information that you can. If the imperials try to stop you, you have permission to use any weapon necessary. Everyone else, stay here and keep the town safe. Move Out!"

The soldiers yelled. Karel turned on his lightsaber and lead a charge onto the enemy ship. The ship was outfitted with over two dozen large cannons, many turrets, and half a dozen smaller guns. Karel ran onto a deck filled with imperials. They were going to have to fight there way to the Admiral in charge, if indeed they had one.

Bora's forces got on after, with less attention on them. They were able to get inside the ship quickly, but they had no idea where anything was. What was worse, imperials were firing at them. Bora threw an ice dust grenade. It exploded, making cover for her men to get in. One of her troops stopped her.

"Sir, you cut off the way to the guns. These battleships have the room for reloading towards the heart of the ship."

Bora sighed, then looked up. "You know the layout of the ship?"

"Yes sir. They are very much like our own, but they placed vitals in different places. The Communications room is towards the bottom. We could split the team in two."

"Does anyone else know the layout of the ship?"

"My whole squad does."

"Which is?"

"Squad 20 sir."

"Split the squad in half. The squad leader will go to the comm room, the other half will follow me. Take the squads from the second division with you."

"I'll send it out." The ice cracked. Just before it broke, the team was split in two. Bora fired at the imperials on the other side. All the Red Fang stayed with her. They were stuck in this hallway.

"Looks like I have to use it." Bora inserted a shard of fire dust in her gauntlet. She made her gauntlet a flamethrower.

Karel jumped on a turret and cut it in half. He was breathing heavily. That was the fourth one he destroyed. The fight on the deck was going well for them. They were pushing the empire back. Karel jumped on one of the main cannons and started to slice into it when he looked up. He could see the Imperial Admiral looking back at him.

"Hello. Troops, keep the enemy occupied while I talk to their leader." Karel said

Admiral Percy looked at the Jedi when he jumped on one of the main cannons. He felt only anger towards him.

"Soldiers don't give up. Keep fighting."

Karel jumped thought the glass and landed in front of Admiral Percy.

"I assume you're the one leading the empire in this attack."

"I am. I am Admiral Percy. You are Jedi knight Karel Allusis, commander of the 122nd legion. This is your first battle?"

"No. Not even close. I fought in a much larger war."

"Is this the first battle you've led. If it is, I congratulate you. This battle will end in your favor, but how much of it was because of the Red Fang, or the huntsmen you had?"

"They were helps. I couldn't have won this battle alone." Karel admitted.

"Humility isn't fitting someone of my Rank." Percy pulled a pistol and shot Karel in the side. Karel cut Percy down.

"I need… assistance." Karel called out.

The leader of Squad 20 was getting close to the information room. He'd gone through most of the of the ship, losing a few of his men along the way. Now there was one corridor left. If they could get to the end of it, they could get the information they need.

He took a peak at the corridor, seeing plenty of imperials.

"Everyone. This is our last push. Let's make it count." They turned the corner, guns blazing. People dropping on both sides. Fewer and few soldiers still alive.

Finally, one last bullet fired. The smell of sulfur fresh in the air, and the metallic smelling blood covering the once white walls. Squad 20 still stood, with squad 21. They took a breath of relief to still be alive. They moved to the communications room. It was still full of papers, and computers. Squad 21 gathered everything they could and left the room. That's when they heard the commander say

"I need… assistance"

Bora cut off the flamethrower and fired her pistols. She heard thumps, so she ordered her troops to move forward. She jumped past the burnt bodies and opened fire at six imperials. They dropped before they knew what was happening. The troops moved with her. Soon they were in the room where the cannons were loaded.

"Our mission is to damage these barrels, so they can't fire. First unload them."

The troops unloaded all the barrels, and each of them was loaded.

"Why haven't they fired?" Bora asked.

"Does it matter?" One of the troops asked.

"Yes. They could have fired right away. Why?" Bora thought about it. Each of the barrels were filled with explosives.

"Sir, right now, we're going to destroy the guns. Please move back."

Bora and the rest of her troops moved out of the loading room. The troops pressed the charges on the explosives. They all went off, disabling the cannons. Bora looked. No one came.

"We must have sent them packing." One of her troops said.

"I need… Assistance." Karel said. Bora heard that he was hurt.

"Squad 18 come with me. Everyone else, go look for the last of the imperials." Bora hurried to the top deck.

* * *

"Where are you Karel?" Bora asked.

"Main Bridge." Karel said.

Bora looked at the bridge. She flew up and saw Karel in a pile of his own blood. He was holding onto his wound.

"Hey."

"What happened?"

"I got shot. Not fatal, but it hurts a lot. Do you think you can get me to a medic?"

"Of course." Bora grabbed Karel and flew out of the bridge. She flew to the town. Squad 55 was the medical squad. Bora flew to where they had stationed that squad. It was a smaller building, with a few people able to fit in it, but they could help one person.

"The Commander's been shot." Bora said.

"Here's the bullet." Karel handed them a bullet. Even Bora looked at him.

"I'm type B-." Karel said, "And this hurts a lot."

"We'll get you patched up sir."

"Bora get back to the ship. They still need a leader. I've been shot before. I'll be fine." Karel said.

Bora nodded and left. She flew back to the ship. She didn't notice it at first, but the pier had a lot more dead bodies. She landed and asked what happened.

"People came of the damages ship and started firing at us. We took care of them."

Bora looked at the first ship, and she knew it would sink if it was in deeper water. The ship started moving by itself.

"The Red Fang in the water gathered together lots of wind dust. They're going to sink the ship."

"Good work. I need to get back to the ship that can still float." Bora wen on board and saw that the imperials were surrendering. She looked around and saw her people coming out from the ship with imperials surrendering to them.

"Karel, I think we just won."

Karel didn't answer. He must be under.

"Looks like I'm going to have to send the message.

* * *

Back at Remnant Roni was getting reports that the Empire had attack Menagerie. That's where the 122nd was stationed. That's Where Karel was stationed. She couldn't help being worried, but then she got a call from the 122nd. She opened the call up, and a hologram of Bora came up. She feared the worst.

"Master Roni, It looks like we've beaten the empire, and we captured on of their war ships, and sunk one."

"Where's Commander Allusis?"

"He was shot. He's with the Medics now. He lost blood, but that was about it. He'll be fine."

"What about the hunters in training we sent?"

"They're fine. Sun got a wound, and Velvet overextended herself, but besides that they're in top form."

"What about your loses?"

"At first, we lost many people, but we only lost seven squads. We lost zero from squad 7. I think we found our best squad."

"I will make note of that. Have the imperials surrendered?"

"About one hundred twenty-two in total. Not a large sum of prisoners, but that's not the point. The point is that we've got our first major victory."

"That will boost morale. Bring it out to the press. Have the politicians stop breathing down my neck. Get some more support from the people and prove to the councils that our choice on you two was the right one."

"People were worried we weren't the right fit?"

"Yes, so we will avoid the fact that Karel has been shot. We'll classify that."

"Yes. I'll send you the statistics when we have them. Until then, may the force be with you." Bora signed off.

Roni sighed a sigh of relief. This was some of the best news she could have gotten.

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 15**

The Newspapers were abuzz with the news of the first major victory against the empire. Morale across the Alliance burst. The Bars were filled with Cheers, and more people joined up with the forces.

Ironwood could finally relax for a night. Roni entered his room.

"Have you heard the news?"

"At this point I'd be surprised if newborns haven't heard the news. Your choice for the 122nd legion commander was correct."

"Thank you. I'm guessing you want to toast to victory."

"You know me so well." Ironwood went to a wall in his apartment covered with booze. He pulled down a Bottle of Rum. He opened it and poured two shot glasses. Roni took one.

"To victory."

"To the 122nd, and the Red Fang."

They downed the shots. Ironwood refilled the glasses.

"I can go all night… I've done it before."

"We can't do that." Roni took the shot.

"Yeah… but would you like a third round?"

"You're not trying to get me drunk, are you?"

"No. I'm celebrating Commander Allusis' win. Look out on the streets. People finally look happy again. They aren't afraid or angry. They're happy." Ironwood drank the shot.

"We're still fighting a war. We can't relax yet."

"I know. I haven't forgotten about Pare, or the Jedi in it. I haven't forgotten Salem. I haven't forgotten the relics, but for tonight, we cheer." Ironwood raised the glass

* * *

Karel sat up. He was mostly better, with only a little pain left. His shirt was on the nightstand next to him. The rings that he had made were around his neck on a necklace.

"Look at the papers Commander."

Karel took the paper and looked at the title.

"The Alliance's first victory."

Karel looked through it and saw the raving review of his troops. He smiled. He even got an excellent grade.

Bora walked in and saw the rings on his neck.

"What are those for?"

He looked up and saw Bora.

"The rings? What are they for?"

Karel looked at the two men still in the house.

"Can you give us a minute?"

"Yes commander." They leave the building.

"One is mine…"

"You have two."

"The Other is for you, if you will accept it."

Bora looked at it "My helmet."

"Yeah. This is what I wanted it for. I didn't expect you to see it for a few months… I was going to ask you this after…"

"Ask me what?" Bora thought she knew what, but she needed to hear it.

"I love You Bora."

"I know. What were you going to ask me?"

"Come here."

Bora leaned in.

"I want..."

 _ **Author's Notes: This is the first victory for Alliance that matter…**_

 _ **So, that break was just SOOO long. I forgot to say that RWBY's back… and I like the first 2 chapters so far.**_

 _ **Can someone tell me what the navy uses now?**_

 _ **Hope you liked this chapter. Remember, you can name any of Karel's ships.**_


	11. Chapter 10: Touring Mistral

**Chapter 10**

 **Year 0 Month 3 Day 27**

 **The War hasn't stopped, it hasn't even slowed, but both sides fight against each other. The battle of Pare has raged on without stopping. New Jedi have been rotated in. Menagerie recovers from it's fight, but many a fearful.**

Legion 122 moved out of Menagerie. With bringing the first major victory to the war people have been joining up, replacing all the dead. Five more squadrons were added. The 122nd went back to Vale to await its next set of orders.

Yang went to talk to Karel. She went to his home, which was very nice. She knocked on the door, and Karel opened it.

"Hello Yang. Come on in." Yang walked in the house. It was messy with boxes everywhere. Troops were moving things.

"So, this is what it's like leading a legion?"

"Not exactly. I'm not here alone. I've got one of my higher-ranking officers living here as well. I offered it to them. That's why you see the boxes everywhere. So, what'd you come here for?"

"I want to talk Jedi business." Yang said

"A master I'm guessing."

"Yeah…"

"It's been a year now. You need a master to finish off your training. Trust me. I just don't know who. They'll come. Trust me."

"But I was told that if I didn't find a master, I would be assigned to Master Roni. She hasn't been fighting."

"I see. She isn't the worst person to have as a master. I'm guessing you're wanting someone who's out on the battlefield. A Jedi knight can take you on."

"Are you saying you will?"

"Sorry, no. I doubt I would have the time. Find someone who's not a legion commander. Besides. I doubt I could do you much good."

Yang looked down. "I get it."

"I don't think you do. The force is saying that I am not to be your master."

"Alright. So, who's living here besides you?"

"I'll let you guess." Karel smiled.

Yang started thinking.

Karel got a buzz on his scroll. "Looks like I need to go. Thank you for stopping by."

"Bye." Yang left Karel's house. She shook her head.

"I don't know what I'm going to do."

Yang got a message on her scroll.

"We have a new assignment for you. -Roni"

Yang sighed.

* * *

Yang went to the war room. Master Roni was standing there.

"Hello Yang. Do you know Arin Jones?"

"Yeah! I love his music."

"Did you know he's a Jedi?"

"Really? How have I not seen him?"

"He's not at the temple very often. We're sending him on a tour with his band. This is to gather information. Since no one knows Jones is a Jedi, he can easily slip into places. He is even able to get into Mistral."

"Where do I come in?"

"You'll be going with him. If you play an instrument, or sing might change what you do. You'll have to not bring attention to yourself, or have the spotlight be on you. So, are you going to take your lightsaber?"

Yang looked at it for a few seconds. It was her master's before he gave it to her. It was all she had left.

"I'll take it."

"Then you'll have to be even more careful. If anyone sees it, the whole mission is done for. Then you'll be stuck behind enemy lines, with little hope to escape."

"I get the picture."

"Good." Roni placed her hand on Yang's shoulder.

"Do stay safe."

"I will. So, where is Arin?"

"In the waiting room, waiting for you."

"Oh, I got to go."

* * *

Yang went to the waiting room. She patted her hair down. She saw Arin Jones sitting there.

"So, you're Yang Xiao Long? I heard about you a while ago."

"When?"

"When I met Karel. He told me you liked my music." Arin Jones took Yang's hand and shook it.

"Yeah, I've been listening to it for a while." Yang said.

"Let's go meet my bandmembers."

Arin takes Yang outside and they find the bandmates.

Yang has a smile spreading across her face.

"These are…" Arin started

"Grover Henderson, and Alani Tatyana. Where's Deedee Tatyana and Lily Ventura?"

Grover Henderson was a goat faunas. He had a tanned skin. He also wore glasses and a black tee with the Band logo on it.

Alani Tatyana was a human woman. She had tattoos all over her. She wore a white shirt, with one arm missing. She wore gloves with the fingers missing besides her pointer and thumb.

They looked at Yang.

"This is her. And Lily's going to be back soon. She found another Bonsai shop." Alani said

"Yes, this is Yang. She's going to be joining us." Arin said.

"What happened to Deedee?"

"That's what we're trying to find out. We're the eyes and the ears. The last we heard from Dee, she was going to Mistral to…" Grover started saying. "That's not important right now."

Arin shook his head.

"She's no role model. But she's our bandmate." Arin said

"And now we have the new girl. Do you play anything?"

"I play the guitar." Yang said

"Let's test that." Alani said. She got out one of Deedee's guitars. She handed it to Yang.

"Play seven minutes to Hades."

That was one of the hardest songs the band had. Yang grabbed the guitar. "You have a pick?"

"Good. Here you go." Alani handed Yang a red pick.

The song opens with a power guitar solo. Yang listened to this song so often that it was burned in her head. She started her trial, hitting every note.

The song sped up, and so did her job. Grover bopped his head up. He pulled out two drumsticks and started banging on the bench he was on. Arin started humming the song.

Yang played her heart out. Just like the song implied, it was seven minutes. She needed to land every hit just right.

Alani smiled, but Yang didn't see it.

Her last cord came up and she put everything she had into it. When she hit the last note. She was sweating.

She looked at Alani. She was smiling.

"I think you passed. That was no easy feat. Gods, that even got me pumped up. You're not so bad."

She held her hand out.

"I've been practicing for years." Yang took her hand.

A woman was walking up to the rest of the band with two bonsais.

"Is that really Lily Ventura?" Yang asked

"Yeah. She has something about trees."

Lily Ventura had red hair, not orange, but red. Her eyes were an emerald green. She was the shortest member of the band. She had on a headband. She had a huge on her face. She wore a loose tee shirt, which at one time was white.

"Hey guys. I heard you playing. Who's replaced Dee?"

"Her name's Yang Xiao Long. She's like Arin." Grover said

"A Jedi… Nice. I'm…"

"I know who you are. I've listened to all your songs."

"Oh, good."

* * *

The Haus of Hunters, the band name, was on the road. They stopped at New Mistral for the first night. The War has barely touched it. It was better than it was before the invasion.

Governor Gran allowed them in after a while. He was a cautious man.

"Gram's let us in before. The first time we came here since the war started, I thought he was going to blow our heads off." Arin told Yang.

"I'm not surprised. This is the empire's stronghold on this continent." Yang looked at the buildings.

"Have you fought yet?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. Two battles." Yang said

"Which two?"

"The second one's not important. The first one was the Battle of Beacon."

"You fought then? That seems so long ago."

"It was almost two years ago. Things were simpler than." Yang said

"I second that." Arin said

They stopped at a stadium. They got out and when to the back room.

Lily went to a bowl of candies in the room.

"It's good guys. No green mints."

"What?"

"It's how we make sure they read our contract fully. If they put any green mints in the bowl of candies, we know they didn't pay attention. We've cancelled because of that." Arin explained.

"Why?"

"Safety issues." Alani said.

"I see." Yang went to the couch and sat down.

Grover went to the fridge and pulled out sparkling water.

"We don't drink before a show." Alani said.

Grover handed Yang a peach mango sparkiling water.

"Our show's going to be unique. This is the first time since lily here that we've introduced a new bandmember. This is going to be interesting. Yang, you'll play the first song off stage. The song doesn't have a guitar solo until half way through." Arin said

"Demolition?"

"Yeah. How many of our songs do you know?"

"All of them."

"Alright, well, it's Demolition, Lost Heart, Poison Apple, Blood Stained Rose, Loveless War, then our finally, Seven Minutes to Hades."

Each song got harder, longer, and faster.

Yang grabbed an overcoat and threw it on, and sunglasses.

"I've got this." Yang said

"Everyone's going to get dressed, then we'll go through rehearsal." Arin leaned in. "Remember, get any information you can."

"How do we do that?"

"Keep your eyes open. Tiny details add up to something great."

"Anything in particular?"

"People. Who's here, and who's not. Don't worry, you'll get it eventually." Grover said

They went to the stage and started the practice. The first song went off perfectly.

"You're doing great Yang. Keep it up." Alani said.

"Thanks." Yang loved this mission.

"The audience will love you!" Grover said.

"Are you sure?"

"You've got to have confidence and make yourself a personality." Lily said

"You took that too literally." Arin said. Grover laughed.

"What do you find so funny mister hipster?" Lily said

"At least I'm not a hippy. By the way, how's your boyfriend, Mr. Maple?"

"Shut up." Lily said

"I'm just kidding." Grover took a bite of a protein bar he had in his pocket.

Yang smirked. This was a dream come true.

"On to the next one. So, in between songs, we're going to introduce Yang, and she'll be out on stage for the rest of the time. Lost Heart begins. Yang, you and Alani will walk back to back, and begin your duo, then you take two steps forward. You'll turn to the audience, then you'll play the next chord. Alani, you two will be switching between chords, then at the end of the song You'll play them together." Arin said

"What about Lily?" Yang asked

"She knows what she's doing. With you two taking center stage, she'll have her eyes open." Arin transmitted to her, thought the force.

"She knows what she's doing." Arin said aloud.

"Do you talk to everyone like this?" Yang said to Arin though the force.

"Yes. It also helps us looks like we got the play list down."

"I see."

They continued with the songs until seven minutes to Hades. It was good before, but that was when she was alone. Now it was going to sound amazing.

They played the song, and they put their all into it. After they were sweating. Yang loved it. Everyone was at their best.

"That's the first practice run. Everyone get into what you're going to wear on stage. Get some water, get anything you need. We're doing this twice before we play in front of the crowd."

"Got it boss. "Alani said

They went to the back stage. Yang changed from her regular shorts to long black pants. She put on boots and wrapped her scarf around her leg. She also changed her yellow tee shirt to an orange one and kept the overcoat on. She also but on leather gauntlets. She looked at the guitars that she could choose from, and she saw a yellow and black one. She picked it up and smiled.

"This is the one." She walked out of her dressing room and saw everyone's outfit, besides Arin.

"He went on ahead." They all wore what they did on the covers. She noticed they we're that different from what they normally would wear.

"What's Arin wearing?"

"You'll love to see it."

Yang went to the stage and saw him in a white pair of pants with a red strip running down, with a white tee, and a yellow jacket. He was also wearing sunglasses that had a golden instrument on them.

"He's flamboyant." Yang said

"Yes. That helps us get information."

"I see…" Yang said

They started the second run. They went thought everything, including where they would step.

After an hour, they ended the practice.

"Tonight's going to be good." Grover said.

"Yes, it will." Arin said.

* * *

People were flooding in. Yang went into position first. She was hidden on stage, behind a part of the stage. The floor opened, and Grover came up. He played for a few seconds, to the cheers of everyone there.

Lily came up next, and she played some of Blood-Stained Rose. More cheers.

Alani came up and played a solo from one of the songs not playing tonight. After she finished, she pointed out to the crowd.

"Are you ready?"

They cheered back "YES!"

"We got a surprise for you tonight." Lily said.

Smoke shot out covering the stage. Arin came from the floor, facing away from the crowd.

"Don't say anything until after the first song." He said to Yang.

Yang nodded her head.

"Tonight, we'll shock you." Arin said.

He turned around. He pointed his finger to the sky and held his head down.

"Tonight, you are in for a treat." Arin said.

"It's time for…" Alani started

"DEMOLITION!" The band cried out.

The crowd cheered.

Grover started out. He laid down the beat. Lily joined in. She finished a cord and blew a kiss to the audience. Alani started to play. The crowd cheered.

Arin smiled.

 _It was here I meet my first tragedy._

 _We had all met you monster._

 _You had but one mission_

 _Demolition._

 _He came first for our inhibition._

 _Then he came in the politicians._

 _We refuse to give you any ammunition._

 _Destruction_

 _You came for our families_

 _You came for our friends_

 _You came for our lives_

 _Demon, now we show you_

 _Demolition!_

Yang started her solo. The crowd cheered.

 _You tried to destroy us but look how you've done._

 _You have no more power, you're finally gone_

 _Our lives are free from you and your power._

 _Demolition_

 _We see you in others_

 _You still have your shadow_

 _But in us it's gone._

 _We are no longer under your thumb._

 _Demolition._

 _We have the power now_

 _Your old forces are skeletons_

 _And your glory has fall'n_

 _Demolition._

Arin stopped singing, but there were still a few cords.

 _Demolition_

Arin quietly said.

The audience clapped.

"We thank you. Some of you may have heard that Deedee has left our band. She has. She has gone to do bigger and better things. Who did we get to replace her? She's somewhere in the building." Arin said

Smoke shot out again. Yang took a deep breath.

"Let's give her our welcome"

They started to cheer.

Yang took another breath and started to play the opening cords of seven minutes to Hades.

She finished up her introduction.

"Give it up for Yang Xiao Long!"

People cheered. Yang was pumped up by the audience.

"That's right!" Yang said.

"Now, who wants to hear our next song?" Arin shouted. The crowd cheered. "Give it up for Lost Heart!"

Yang opened the song.

 _Like the ocean's great waves,_

 _We bash against the shores._

 _The thoughts in our mind_

 _Float like a bottle with a wish_

Arin clenched his fist

 _Yet like the currents that flow out_

 _Always take more than they leave._

 _We curse the ocean of thought._

His fist opened. He stomped his foot and the stage lit up with white.

 _White is the rage_

 _So hot that it burns_

 _A Rage sharp as a blade_

 _That cuts both ways._

 _As our hearts fade away._

Arin stomps his foot again, and the lights turn off, except for a gray light.

 _Like the ocean's great waves,_

 _We bash against the shores._

 _The thoughts in our mind_

 _Float like a bottle with a wish_

 _Yet like the currents that flow out_

 _Always take more than they leave._

 _We curse the ocean of thought._

Yang and Alani go back to back. They play together. Yang's guitar had a black outline on it that glowed. Half the stage would ripple with black. Alani's Bass had a white outline. White ripples came off with each strike. A circle around them was made grey.

Yang and Alani took steps forward, trading cords, the grey now gone. There was a war of black and white on the stage.

Yang struck one more cord, and the black overpowered.

The stage went black, but a red outline of all the instruments colored the stage.

 _Embrace the darkness_

 _Hate burns black as the coals_

 _The fire burn all it touches_

 _Destroying the heart_

The stage went back to black and white

 _Sing the song of death and of life._

 _Of dark and of light._

 _The dark night_

 _Conquers all._

The stage was grey completely.

 _Life is not just joy_

 _Or sorrow_

 _Its something_

 _Much more complete._

 _The burdened heart_

 _Sinks into the earth_

The lights slowly came back

 _Sing with me this song_

 _Of grey waters_

 _Of peace and war_

 _Of black and white_

Yang and Alani looked at each other.

 _Like the ocean's great waves,_

 _We bash against the shores._

 _The thoughts in our mind_

 _Float like a bottle with a wish_

 _Yet like the currents that flow out_

 _Always take more than they leave._

 _We curse the ocean of thought_

 _This song of Lost heart._

The audience cheered

Arin pulled out a bandana and wiped his sweat off. He threw it into the crowd. People fought over it.

"How'd you like that one?"

The audience cheered again

"Next up, Poisoned Apple!"

Lily started this song.

 _My head's spinning_

 _Spinning because of hate_

 _All because I took a bite_

 _Of that poisoned apple._

Yang went to the mic. This song had two singers who switched.

 _I've fallen into a dark eternity_

 _It was nothing but pain's paralyzing agony_

 _That could stop me_

 _Trapping my mind in its dark cage_

Arin went back to the mic

 _Maybe it's a dream,_

 _The only one that's real_

 _But that pain means nothing_

 _Even if you knew how I feel_

 _The prison is pure misery_

 _I wish you knew how I feel_

 _There is nothing, not even light_

Both went to the mic

 _You can command my tongue. You can try to force me to go_

 _I doubt I could care, but my heart it only knows_

 _If I try something else, there's no going back_

 _Because everything will be lost to black_

Yang stepped back and went back to playing. Her next part would come soon.

 _Maybe it's a dream,_

 _The only one that's real_

 _But that pain means nothing_

 _Even if you knew how I feel_

 _The prison is pure misery_

 _I wish you knew how I feel_

 _There is nothing, not even light_

Arin moved away from the mic. The three with the string instruments had a trio. The audience loved it. Lily shook her head, and she led the other two back into the song. Grover loved this song. He put everything into it. It was his favorite in the album

 _Will the future ever come? Will the sun ever rise?_

 _Will there be a place for me in the light?_

 _Is this I feel pain? Is it my sorrow?_

 _Where will I go from here?_

 _I don't know how to tell; will I ever truly know?_

Yang went back to the mic

 _Can I move past this place? I've done all I can._

 _Everyone can see, but they can never understand_

 _If I were to change, to go back into the light_

 _Then I'd be forever changed, fading into white._

Yang went back, there was another break, where Lily and Alani were. They did another round. The song was about half way over

Arin started again

 _My head's spinning_

 _Spinning because of hate_

 _All because I took a bite_

 _Of that poisoned apple._

Yang went to the mic

 _Yang went to the mic. This song had two singers who switched._

 _I've fallen into a dark eternity_

 _It was nothing but pain's paralyzing agony_

 _That could stop me_

 _Trapping my mind in its dark cage_

Both were at the mic

 _Maybe it's a dream,_

 _The only one that's real_

 _But that pain means nothing_

 _Even if you knew how I feel_

 _The prison is pure misery_

 _I wish you knew how I feel_

 _There is nothing, not even light_

 _You can command my tongue. You can try to force me to go_

 _I doubt I could care, but my heart it only knows_

 _If I try something else, there's no going back_

 _Because everything will be lost to black_

Arin backed up

 _If I move forward, taking another step_

 _Then it would all start to crack, and I lose all of me_

 _If my tears flood the winds, If they taint the light_

 _Could it ever return again? Return to pure white._

They were going to finish the song off together.

 _Will you tell me who you are?_

 _Will you tell me where I am?_

 _I've forgotten how to fell, I've forgotten if I can._

 _When I give you my hand, there'd be no more going back_

 _Because I'd throw my soul away, as it fades to Black._

Yang ended out the song with a rift.

The crowd cheered. It was one of the most popular songs they had. Arin grabbed a water bottle and downed it.

"You guys good?"

"I'm kind of thirsty, doing most of the work" Grover said

The audience loved this kind of stuff

"Yeah, but you don't have to look so sexy." Lily laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, sure just leave the music to us."

"Hey guys, anyone got a spare water bottle? Grover seems to need his tea break."

"How come you only brought one? We're the ones who sweat ten pounds off."

"And you didn't even get one for our new bandmate? Shameful" Alani said

"BOO" Grover said. Fans handed over water bottles.

"Here you go guys." Arin tossed the water bottles.

"Give it up for Yang. She's been a trooper. Brand new and she's destroying that guitar. And who knew she had such a good voice." Arin said

"Take notice of how they react to you. If they like you, play yourself up." Arin told her.

She looked at the audience. She had some fans. After she finished her drink, she had a cocky look.

"You think that would take me out?"

Arin smiled.

Everyone finished the water.

"What's next? Oh, right Blood-Stained Roses"

It was another duet. Arin was the one who sang the first half

 _I can't stand it, even for another day!_

 _The sun never came up back in my life without you in it_

 _The light was stolen from me when you died_

 _To keep you here was all I ever wanted_

 _But now you're gone and my soul's forever haunted_

 _I can't believe I had taken you for granted_

 _And now there's no way I can comprehend this_

 _I wish I was dreaming when they told me you were gone_

 _But my eyes were open, cut could they be wrong?_

 _Why did you leave me, we swore that we would stay?_

 _Now my life's a nightmare from night to the day!_

 _You'd read the books, they'd never have a happy ending_

 _Was that a warning for me that your life would fade black?_

 _Why does it always end like this?_

 _It's always like night has come on my life._

 _I know you loved me_

 _You tried to show me that_

 _But now I'm in a lake of madness_

 _And now I have to fight_

 _ **Bloody Stained Roses!**_

 _That's what fills my head at night_

 _Coming closer_

 _To the emptiness that fills my soul._

 _That's what fills your hole_

It was Yang's part now. She was answering Arin

 _I know your filled with Anger and with Sadness_

 _I couldn't keep you from that dark pool_

 _If you could only see, even if only for a minute_

 _You'd see why I had to do it._

 _I want to tell you love, that you're all that ever mattered_

 _My heart is eternally shattered_

 _I tried to protect you, but I just ended up failing you_

 _And now your trapped in the Jail that bounds you_

 _I never planned that I would leave you._

 _I wanted to make it back home to you_

 _I wanted to tell you that it would all be okay_

 _But now I'm just a failure, and you're the one left to bare my shame_

 _My story was never going to end in anything but misery_

 _But I never thought this would be my final chapter_

 _I did what I thought I had to do_

 _But I forced the larger sacrifice on you_

 _I know your life's a nightmare_

 _You tried to take on my pain_

 _But love, please don't become like me_

 _Don't throw away your life in vain_

Arin went back to the mic

 _ **Bloody Stained Roses!**_

 _That's what fills my head at night_

 _Coming closer_

 _To the emptiness that fills my soul._

 _That's what fills your hole_

Arin and Yang switched off between lines

 _I was needed, I hoped you understood_

 _You were the one I needed, and you left me, but I always knew you would_

 _I would change it if I could_

They sang in unison

 _It doesn't matter now._

 _The petals all flew away now_

 _In every nightmare_

 _Are those blood stained roses_

Arin finished the song off

 _No matter what I do_

 _I can't fill that place of you_

 _ **Bloody Stained Roses!**_

 _That's what fills my head at night_

 _Coming closer_

 _To the emptiness that fills my soul._

 _That's what fills your hole_

They finished off the song. It always hit home to Yang. It was Ruby's favorite song.

The first time Ruby heard it she cried. Yang tried to comfort her. Then she said it.

"It's like Mom and me. This is how I felt when she died." Yang held her sister close.

"Now onto our next song. Loveless War"

 _My love has no place to go_

 _My heart feels like it's about to glow._

 _This war has no place for the heart_

 _So I'll be a victor, now I'll be the victor!_

 _The clouds block the sun_

 _Gun powder makes the dark black clouds_

 _I cannot see_

 _The sun's light parting the clouds_

 _The darkness hangs over me_

 _My world becomes a blur_

 _My heart cannot shine through_

 _The rage of the dark is too strong_

 _How did this skirmish turn into a war?_

 _We are all fools, but you know_

 _I fight, shooting for life_

 _I'll rip this darkness apart_

 _We once cherished love_

 _But now we only love the war_

 _We steal the foes bright gaze_

 _And we become who they adore_

 _We shoot from our heart_

 _And we surely hit our marks_

 _ **Loveless War!**_

 _I'll be the victor, Yes, I'll be the victor!_

 _Why does my touch break everything into pieces?_

 _Even my own heart?_

 _I scream your name, but I never hear your answer_

 _Because of this war_

 _I see the darkness parting, curing our blindness_

 _But we hid, because it suits us no more_

 _I will be the victor, I must be the victor_

 _I can't control my rage_

 _And I turn our skirmish into this WAR!_

 _I had to say goodbye_

 _Because this war has destroyed you_

 _I always loved you_

 _I fight, shooting for life_

 _I'll rip this darkness apart_

 _We once cherished love_

 _But now we only love the war_

 _We steal the foes bright gaze_

 _And we become who they adore_

 _We shoot from our heart_

 _And we surely hit our marks_

 _Loveless War!_

 _I'll be the victor, Yes, I'll be the victor!_

 _I was ready for when we met_

 _You may see my weakness_

 _But you'll never win_

 _Love seemed sweet, but this is War_

 _I must be the victor_

 _So open up your eyes_

 _ **Loveless War!**_

 _Love seemed so sweet_

 _But we have no need_

 _I am the victor_

 _But what does that mean?_

The last song. Seven minutes to Hades. Yang smiled. This was her favorite.

She had a solo for the introduction.

 _It was the cold winter's morning_

 _It was a time before the light_

 _Flames drove us to Hades_

 _So we ride onward to a fight_

 _Darkness falls on us_

 _Through tough times and not_

 _We hear his evil laughter_

 _All around us alright._

 _We fought hard, fighting with our steel_

 _Though every wasteland before our_

 _ **SEVEN MINUTES TO HADES!**_

 _We're in his domain_

 _He watches us go_

 _Through his trials of fire and pain_

 _We fly free_

 _We fly thought thunderstorms and through wilderness_

 _Our quest carries on_

 _We go through sunset and moonrise_

 _Deep in our souls and hearts_

 _We're so far away from night or day_

 _And see lives wasting away_

 _We feel their pains like hurricanes_

 _On our seven-minute journey_

 _Fire's red-light approaches near_

 _And lightning's strike_

 _We look heaven word and see our glory_

 _But it looks at us with resentment in its eyes_

 _We run thought Hades' realm_

 _With burning in our hearts_

 _We're banished from that time and the fallen land_

 _To a life stuck in the stars_

 _You can see us in your darkest dreams_

 _Beyond your reality_

 _But we're lost in desperation_

 _Our time seems to have gone_

 _Lost inside the minds of all_

 _You'll never find_

 _Hades' realm_

 _We have to await the day_

 _When you find us, restore our lives_

 _We'll take your pains like hurricanes_

 _In Hades' realm_

 _Yeah_

 _Here we stand with his blood on our hands_

 _After our fight we finally understand_

 _So, we broke the curse_

 _For the freedom of men_

 _We're lost far away_

 _We wait for the day_

 _But until then we'll take all your pains_

 _In Hades' Realm_

They finished the song. The concert ended shortly afterwards.

The band slept for a few hours, then they caught an airship taking them to Anima.

* * *

 **Month 3 Day 14**

Yang and Arin were talking

"I need to find a new master, or they're going to assign me to Roni. Don't get me wrong, she's a good person, but she's stuck in the office all day."

"Yeah. I know what you mean. Do you have anyone else in mind?"

"No." Yang said

"We do need a new bandmate, and what you did last night shows you have the talent for this kind of thing. I am a knight, so I can train you."

"You would"

"Yeah. We're going to be a good team. Especially since we're going to be stuck on Anima for over a few months."

"What?"

"We three concerts a week. We have fourteen more concerts to do."

"I see…" Yang said

"Good. I knew you would. By the end of this tour, we're going to go to Mistral. We're going to see Vox."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

* * *

 **Month 4 Day 16**

Arin taught Yang all about the force and the lightsaber that her last mentor did. Arin told her to call her Arin or mentor. He felt put off by master.

She was taught how to get information from the stage. She was taught all about being a spy. Her eyes were able to catch small details. Every skill she earned was coming to use, even fighting.

She was turning onto a Jedi, but she had the public appearance and a show stealer. Yang thought about getting a tattoo.

She called her dad

"Hey dad."

"Hey sweetie. What's up?"

"I'm in Mistral right now with that Band I told you about?"

"You told me that before."

"Yeah. Now for my stage character I though about getting a tattoo."

"Are you asking me if you should get one?"

"Yeah."

"That's up to you. Be careful out there. Ruby told me to tell you hi, and to call her. She said something about that Karel friend of yours."

"I'll do that. Love you."

"Love you too."

Yang hung up and called Ruby

"Hey rubies. I just talked to dad. What did you want to tell me?"

"Yang, Karel and Bora are engaged!"

"WHAT!"

"Yeah! They announced it a week ago."

"But there so young."

"I know."

"Wow. Everything's moving fast. I'm going to have to send a gift or something. Wow… How's Weiss taken the news?"

"I didn't check. She seemed happy for them."

Yang knew she was hiding something. She just didn't know if Karel knew how Weiss felt about him.

"When's the wedding?"

"…"

"You didn't ask."

"…no"

"You're not serious, are you?"

"I'll ask when I see them next."

"What does the council think about it?"

"Marriage isn't banned. Neither is love."

"That's right. Can you tell Master Roni that I found someone to train me?"

"Sure, who is it?"

"Arin Jones. The guy I've been with for a month."

"I'll tell her."

"You're the best." Yang said

"I know." Ruby hung up. Yang put her head against the wall. She was on another airship. Arin walked in.

"Something bothering you?"

"No, just I got some big news. You remember Karel, right?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"He's engaged."

"hope that'll end well for him. We're writing a new song. Why don't you come in and see the magic?"

"Sure."

Yang went to the room and saw the process.

They were laughing. Alani was laughing, playfully pushing Grover. Lily was tuning her guitar. Arin joined them. They were all laughing.

This reminded her of when she and the rest of her team met up.

She saw a flash of Weiss, Blake and Ruby. She smiled. For just a moment, Yang forgot about the war.

 _ **Author's Notes: This will be the only chapter that I write lyrics. I am no lyricist.**_

 _ **All but one of the songs is based off of already existing songs.**_

 _ **I listened to the songs as I wrote them.**_

 _ **If you can tell me which songs I used, then I will be extremely impressed.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	12. Chapter 11: Bon Anniversaire

**Chapter 11**

 **Year 0 Month 6 Day 4**

 **Karel and Bora, along with the 122** **nd** **were brought to defend an important trade route between the kingdoms of Vaccuo. Winter was coming, and War was slowing.**

Weiss, Ren, and Nora were sitting at a table. They were bored. Ever since they agreed to accompany the 122nd legion on this mission, they haven't seen anything. Karel entered the break room. He sat down at the table, tired.

"What was it this time?"

"Drunken brawling. This keeps happening. Am I a bad leader?"

"No, it's just that your soldiers were bored." Weiss said.

"And so are we. Why did they send us out here?" Nora said

"We must be the best vegetable protectors in all the world." Karel joked.

"We've had peace for the past week. Maybe this war will slow over the winter season." Ren said

"If it does then maybe that's when we should hit a beach." Karel said

"I doubt the men would like to see you in a bathing suit." Weiss said

"Most of the scars I have are because of you if you've forgotten." Karel said

"I gave you the big one, but what other scars are you taking about?"

"How about when I got tossed down a mountain because the white fang put a mine in the rode, that you ignored."

"That wasn't my fault."

"Wait, you fell down a mountain?" Nora said

"Yeah. I don't recommend it. Thank the force that I can use it, or I would be dead."

"Alright, which other one's?"

Bora walked in the room.

"We need to cut off booze." She said. She took a seat by Karel.

"Another fight?"

"They organized a fight club." Bora hung her head low.

"Just because we won at Menagerie, they think they're the best troops. They have no idea what it's like to lead them."

One of the ten division leaders entered the break room.

"Commander Allusis. It seems like there's going to be snow tonight."

"Thank you, Major Violet." Major Violet was head over squads 21-30. Ten squads equal one division. Karel selected the division leaders for different reasons. Major Violet was a human woman, 28, with coal black hair. She wore glasses and had blue eyes. She wore the 122nd's uniform. A Brownish uniform that would be suited for a forest.

"Only division 4 is suited for winter warfare."

"I know. Have division 4 take lead on the roads."

"Understood." She saluted.

"Also, Major, send out a notice to gather the other division leaders. We have to do something about this abuse of a privilege."

"I'll get them."

She left the room. Karel held the bridge of his nose.

"They don't fight for a week, and they do this. Don't they know the media has its eyes on us?"

Weiss looked at the Calendar. She remembered something

"Happy Birthday Karel."

Karel looked up.

"Its my birthday? I didn't realize it."

"You're 19 now." Nora said "And we're all 20. We're getting old" she mumbled.

"We didn't celebrate it last year, why celebrate it now?"

"Why didn't you celebrate it last year?" Bora asked

"Someone was in the hospital."

"Oh, yeah."

Karel laughed.

"My father did get you something."

"Really? What?"

"You'd have to go to the stables."

"No…" Karel smiled

"Yeah." Weiss smiled. Karel got up asked Bora. "If they come in before I come back, you can handle it, right?"

She gave him a thumbs up.

* * *

Karel went to the stables in the camp. He went in and saw his present.

His horse, and two others.

The horse neighed.

"Hey buddy, how've you've been?" the horse neighed. He understood the horse. The force gave him impressions about what it wanted to tell.

"I can't be at Atlas forever." He neighed back.

"I know. I'm sorry I haven't been to see you more, but I have responsibility. Who are these two?"

The horse neighed.

"I see. So, this is your child. What do you think about Tanner?"

The horse neighed.

"Then Tanner it is. It's so good to see you again Aero." Karel pet the horse's main.

Karel smiled. Then he remembered his responsibility.

"I'm sorry Aero. I must go now. I'll show you Bora after I'm done."

Karel went back to the main building.

* * *

"So, what was it?" Bora asked.

"My horse."

"You have a horse?"

"Two now apparently."

"You never told me about the horse." Bora said

"It never came up. I could take you riding with me."

"I'd have to skip that. We don't have much time with this war raging on."

"One day, it's going to end."

Two of the division leaders came in.

"Major Koa, Major Roy, thank you for coming."

Major Koa was a faunas male. He was the leader of the 4th division. He was able to lead his troops easily in the snow. He was an older man, 37, and he had brown hair. His uniform was a white variant.

Major Roy was leader of the 8th division leader. He was a human male. He wore a blue variant of the uniform. He was 26. He used his own weapon that he created. He was a tactical genius. He led his men into many victories. He was born with white hair.

"You called for us boss."

"Yes. While neither of your division have abused the privilege, if I catch them, they will lose all privileges to Alcohol. You're lucky that I didn't catch them at that fight club."

"We will send out the warning" Major Koa said. They saluted.

"Keep an eye out for any brawls."

"Will do."

They saluted and left.

Karel did this for the rest of the division, but he banned it in divisions 1 and 6

After, Karel wondered what he was going to do. They had no more important business.

Ren and Nora decided to make Karel a cake.

After they took it out of the oven, the ground started to rumble. Karel got up immediately

* * *

"Is it imperials?"

"No sir, Grimm. They're the big kind."

"Grimm? We haven't seen them in over 2 years." Karel got his lightsaber. Bora got ready.

When everyone got outside. Two goliaths and ten lancers.

"That's a lot of Grimm." Weiss said. The troops were firing at the Grimm. The lancers came down. Karel threw one of his lightsabers into one of the Lancers.

"One down." Karel said. The lancer dissolved. Karel jumped up to catch his lightsaber, landing under a goliath.

"Can we get something to slow these things down? They'll crush the base camp!" Bora called out. Weiss sent out ice to slow the first one down. It seemed to slow down. For a second. It brought its leg up and continued to walk.

"We'll need something stronger than that." Ren said

"Sorry if that's all I got. That used an entire cylinder of dust." Weiss said.

"Get division 10 ready. We're going to need them." Bora called out. Division 10 was the smallest, but it had the most fire power. It was filled with their snub fighter pilots. They made Altesian wings.

Altesian wings were combinations of both X wings and the ships that Atlas were creating before. They were powerful ships.

"You sure we need them?" Karel asked.

"Yes."

"Then so be it."

Karel jumped on a Lancer, then on another. He was using them to get to the goliath. A rocket came flying at the goliath, but it did nothing more than to annoy the beast.

"Careful!" Karel yelled. "I'm on the thing!"

"Sorry sir." He got back. Karel went to the head of the thing.

"Why are you out here? You normally don't attack." Karel wondered.

He saw the lancer attack the beast to move forward.

The lancers are leading them to attack.

Salem has something to do with this.

Karel didn't want to, but he knew he had to kill the beast.

Bora got her jet pack and flew up to Karel.

"What'd you figure out?"

"Salem caused this. These Grimm don't like attacking humans. They're here because of the Lancers. They'll move forward, but if they do then the base will get destroyed. We must take out these things first. The Lancer's will be dealt with second."

"I see. Our fighters will be here shortly."

"Good. Let's hope none of the Lancers take them down."

Bora nods. She quickly kisses Karel, then flies down. Karel slides down the Grimm's face.

"I'm sorry I have to do this."

Karel slams his lightsaber into the Grimm. It looks at him

"Sorry." Karel said with a smile. The goliath grabbed Karel and threw him to the ground. It was about to step on him when it was hit by blasts from the Altesian fighters. Karel got up and away from the foot of the beast.

"Sir, we have confirmation that an imperial legion is coming this way, attacking another goliath." One of the pilots said.

"So, this is Salem's plan. She wants us to fight." Karel said to himself.

"Everyone, focus on killing the goliaths, then be ready for some company."

Karel got back up and sliced at the Goliath's leg. After a few strikes it fell to the Earth. Karel jumped back on it and jammed his lightsaber again into the beast. It still didn't kill the thing, but it was getting weaker. Karel saw the trunk trying to grab him again, so he cut it off. He jumped to behind the head of the beast. He slashed at the beast again.

Bora flew to Karel.

"Back up!" She yelled.

Karel jumped back, and Bora fired a wrist rocket in the beast's wound. Bora's rocket exploded, finally killing the beast.

"One more left!" Karel announced. A lancer dove down into where his men were. It grabbed two men before rising back up.

"Ren, Nora!"

"Got it." Ren said. He and Nora went to the troops and helped to defend the line.

Karel looked for Weiss. She was battling with a lancer by herself.

She used her semblance, and the knight came out. It started to fight the lancer.

"Good job Weiss." Karel shouted.

A lancer grabbed Karel. Karel turn around and cut off its head.

"Sir, the imperials will be arriving at the base in less than a minute. We're going to have to be ready to fight." Karel swore under his breath

"Can't we do anything to kill these Goliaths?"

"Sir, we have a bomber. Shall we send it out?"

Karel didn't like using the bomber. They didn't have many after the droid factory.

"We have no choice. Launch the bomber."

Ren dodged one of the lancer's tentacles, cutting it off. He fired at it. It rushed towards him. Nora jumped up and smashed it.

"That's another one."

Weiss' knight was defeated, but she did everything she could to kill it. It hit her arm, causing her clothes to be blood stained. She plunged her weapon into the lancer, killing it.

Bora flew to a lancer and placed an explosive on it. When she got off it, she pressed the detonation button.

Major Roy had his axe in the head of a lancer.

The surviving lancers left the area. The Goliath turned around.

Karel turned around and saw the imperials coming out of the woods. Their Grimm were fleeing.

"New objective troops, defend the base from the imperials!" Karel said.

Everyone turned around. Squad 7 was the first one to react. They ordered the imperials to lower their weapons. They thought we were weaker, so they didn't. They opened fire, but my men were ready for this. Squad 7 must have taken out two squads worth of imperials out in a few seconds.

Bora launched another wrist rocket, and she killed four imperials. Some of the imperials threw down their weapons. Others charged forward. Those that didn't surrender were put under the fire of the 122nd. They got into the base camp. They were dangerous since they were unpredictable.

Ren was fighting one hand to hand. It wouldn't end well for the imperial. Ren took out his weapon and slit the throat of the imperial. Karel moved forward and led the attack.

Weiss ran towards where the fighting was going on, and knew she had to do something.

The imperial general exited the forest. He was an older man with white hair and a beard. He wore a black armor over him. He shouted to his men

"We surrender, Men, stand down!"

The imperials mostly stopped attacking, except for a few. Those few weren't spared.

"We don't have enough men anymore to take this position. Don't waste your lives." The imperials threw down all their weapons.

The general walked to Major Koa.

"I assume you are the leader of this legion."

"No."

"Well than who is?"

Karel stepped forward.

"I am."

"Don't mock me. Who is the real leader of this legion?"

"That is him." Major Roy said.

"But he's just a child."

"I am a Jedi knight."

The general didn't say anything.

"We surrender to you. All we ask is to be treated humanely."

"Of course. You have the honor of being prisoners to the 122nd legion of the Remnant Alliance."

"I remember now, you are Jedi knight Karel Allusis. You are one of the most hated people in the empire."

"That doesn't matter. We'll talk about your surrender inside."

* * *

Karel, Bora, and all the division leaders went inside the main base with the imperial general, and two men he chose.

"My men, the 143rd royal regiment were attacked by a Goliath Grimm as well as forty smaller Grimm. Many of my men were killed before reaching your position. That is why we couldn't fight."

"How many of you are there?"

"Most of the 143rd was killed. We have less than three hundred fifty left"

That was why they gave up so quickly.

"How many of you were there before?" Karel asked

"One thousand of us were sent to take this base."

"So, now that we have your story, we have to figure out what to do with you."

"If you do a prisoner trade you can get back many of your people."

Karel sent out a call to master Roni. She answered. Karel took the hologram of her on her comm and placed it on the table.

"Master Roni, we have captured the 143rd royal regiment. What do you suggest we do?"

"Send them to Camp Calden." Camp Calden was a POW camp. The alliance and empire set up multiple POW camps. They were regularly emptied and filled.

"Will do."

Karel ended the call.

"You heard her. You and your men will be taken to camp Calden, then you will be a part of a prisoner transport."

"I thank you."

Karel sent out a request for a ship to take the imperials.

"Now, until the ship comes, your men will be secured. You will also be with your men."

"So be it."

"Now go."

The general got up and held out his hand Karel took it.

A few hours later an airship came and picked up the prisoners. They were taken to Camp Calden.

* * *

The division leaders left the room. Ren and Nora came in with the cake they made.

"It's still your birthday so we made you a cake. It may be cold, but it's still good." Nora said. Karel smiled.

"Thank you."

Karel celebrated his birthday with his friends. The snow started to fall.

"It's a good thing we buried the bodies beforehand. It would be much harder now."

"Don't think about that stuff. Today is your day." Bora said

"I can't just forget it. If I do then why should I be commander."

"I have an idea." Nora went to Weiss.

"Yeah, let's do it."

Nora and Weiss called the members of their teams. Bora smiled and did the same with Vuren.

Everyone answered.

"Hello?" Yang said

"Hey guys. We're here with Karel. It's his birthday."

Ruby shouted

"Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks" Karel smiled.

"Do you have cake?" Ruby asked

"Yeah. Ren and Nora made it."

"I didn't know they could bake a cake." Jaune said

"Jaune, we made you cake on your birthday." Nora said

"I thought that was Pyrrha."

"I can't bake things. I burn everything I try to bake." Pyrrha said

"Blake, how are you?" Bora asked.

"Good. My Mom said to thank you guys for being at Menagerie when you were."

"It's our job." Bora said

"How's the band Yang?"

"Great. We've on our last stop. We still need to find out about the missing bandmember though."

"Vuren, you haven't said anything." Bora said

"I just haven't needed to say anything."

"Where are you?"

"I'm with the 41st at Core." She was in Atlas.

"Be careful out there." Weiss said

"It's the most boring job. We don't see anything out here." Karel smirked at that. She joked about being blind.

"At least Core has a hot spring." Weiss said

"Yeah, that famous hot spring. I hear it makes you feel years younger. I could use that right about now." Karel said.

"You're talking like an old man, you're younger than everybody."

"No, I'm older than Ruby. Besides, I feel like an old man. Next time I'm going to request a place with a hot spring."

"Or a beach" Bora said. Karel laughed

"Yeah, and why not a resort that we're 'guarding'"

"I'd like to go to a beach." Jaune said.

"Of course, you would" Blake said

"Who knows, maybe we'll bring all of you along." Karel said.

"I'd like a beach." Jaune said.

Karel smiled.

"This is relaxing, don't you think? Just us being us. I don't have to worry about anything right now."

"Yeah. I like this. Don't get used to it though." Bora said.

"I know." Karel said.

"But, since it's your birthday, we should get something for you." Ren said

"I don't need much." Karel said

Ren thought.

"I know what I can give you."

Ren left the room and came back with an Arrow. Nora looked at it.

"You want to give him that?"

"What is it?" Jaune asked.

"This Arrow was from my Father before…" Ren stopped for a second "It doesn't matter, but I have only three of these. I want you to have this one."

"Are you sure?"

"Since we met you, we've learned that we're only a small part of a wider universe, we've learned that there are Jedi here, we fought invaders from space. We are friends for the rest of our lives."

Nora shook her head.

"I don't have much from my parents. I never really knew them. I'm sorry I don't have much to give you."

"You don't have to."

"Wait, I have an idea. I only have this from my parents. It's a coin that has my emblem on it."

"Nora, I can't"

"Take it, or I'll break your legs." She said with a smile on her face

"Okay. Thank You."

Bora thought for something

"I don't know. I can't think of anything."

"That's okay. You gave me a good gift a while ago." Karel looked at the ring. Bora blushed.

"Aww…" Ruby said.

Karel smiled.

"But letting me grow a beard…"

"No." Bora said

"You'd look terrible in a beard." Vuren said. Karel looked at the scroll.

"How would you know that?"

"Bora told me."

He shook his head

"What do you think Weiss?"

She jumped.

"I haven't given it much thought. I don't think a big mountain beard would work. Maybe, Maybe, a small beard." She smiled.

"He's not growing one. Why do you even want one?"

"It would look cool." He said. Bora shook her head.

"This is why people still think you're a kid."

"It might look cool." Ruby said

"Thank you, Ruby."

"She's worse than you" Yang said

"Hey! I heard that."

"Doesn't mean I lied"

"I still think it would look cool."

"It might." Jaune said

"Not now Jaune." Bora said.

Karel had a thought. "I'll give the troops one last try to not lose my trust since it's my birthday."

"Alright, but you're going to have to break up any drunken brawls" Bora said

"Okay."

Karel sent out a message to the camp. Since it was his birthday, he would allow every troop alcohol privileges.

The troops cheered.

Karel heard it in the building.

"I think I just made a terrible mistake."

"Did Weiss give you anything?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, she brought me my horse."

"You have a horse?"

"Yeah. Stubborn old thing, but I trust it."

"Sounds fun." Blake said. Karel liked this. Everyone was together. He heard something Blake's end, then her scroll cut off.

* * *

"What just happened?" Karel asked.

Weiss looked at her scroll.

"Blake's scroll isn't working." She said

"What?" Yang asked.

"Does anyone know where she was?" Karel asked.

"She was coming from Menagerie with 101." Bora said.

"This isn't good. We can't just leave and go check up on her." Karel slammed his fist on the table and swore.

"Bora, contact HQ. I'll get the troops ready."

"We can't get them to Menagerie fast enough. We can't even hold them all in our ship."

Karel swore again.

"Can any of you get to her?"

"I can." Ruby said

"So can I" Vuren said

"And the both of us." Jaune said, speaking for Pyrrha.

"This isn't ideal, but I need you to get to her position. She should be moving towards one of the islands at the half way point. Bora, get division 7 and send them to the location with Ruby and the other."

"Got it. I'm going to send them with squad 100. They know how to fly our larger ship."

"Good."

"Weiss, Yang, Ruby, you have the location of Blake's scroll. You have to find it soon."

"I don't know how." Weiss said

"I'll get one of my men to help you. Everyone, we must make sure Blake and the 101 are safe. That is our only objective. Move out."

Everyone ended their calls. Ren and Nora looked at Karel.

"What should we do?" Nora asked

"Pray. Did they track her from the call?"

Bora grabbed onto Karel's shoulder.

"We don't have time for that."

Karel nodded.

"Everyone, no one sleeps until we get her and the 101 out safe. Is that understood?"

"Yes."

The Majors entered.

"Sir, what's going on?"

"There's not much time to explain. Major Pixi, you're going to take your division and squad 100 with you on a rescue mission. Everyone else will have to stay here. Move out!"

Major Pixi saluted and left. She was a female faunas. Her troops were the fastest they had. They wore a black variety of the uniform. Pixi was the youngest Major, being only 20. Pixi had dirty blonde hair and green eyes.

After she left Karel looked at the remaining Majors.

"You might be getting this before HQ. One of my friends was with the 101st and her call was ended for unknown reasons, but before it ended, cannon fire was heard. We have her location on Weiss Schnee's Scroll. Get me someone who can figure out where it is, then send it to Division 7. We don't know if they were on an airship, or a boat, but neither is good. If it's a ship, we can hope that they have boats to flee to the islands."

"Isn't that hopeful thinking." Division leader 1 said

"Major, it would be wise to not speak like that. No, it is not hopeful thinking. We'll know by examining where she was when the call started and where it ended. That would tell us what she was in."

"Yes sir." They said.

"Go, Move out." The saluted and exited the building. A few minutes later two tech experts entered the tent.

Bora went to Karel.

"Everything's going to be alright."

"Please don't stop saying that. We're going to need it."

 _ **Author's Notes: A two Parter! Next time is a Blake solo story.**_

 _ **Happy Veterans Day. To every veteran, I thank you. My dad's a veteran.**_

 _ **I hope you liked this chapter**_

 _ **May the Force Be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	13. Chapter 12: Wolves and Sheep

**Chapter 12**

 **Month 6 Day 4  
** **Blake was with the 101** **st** **legion, in a Karel with the rest of the group for her birthday.**

Blake smiled. She was over the side of her ship. She loved the few times when everyone got together like this. It hasn't happened since the start of the war. Night had fallen on Blake.

She answered on of the questions she was asked.

Her eyes picked up. She heard a humming noise. She turned to where it was coming from, but it was too late. The deck was hit. She dropped her scroll immediately. She grabbed it and went to where they were hit.

The shell went threw the top layers. The ship shook.

"We've been hit! Torpedo!"

Blake looks out. She sees three imperial ships.

"It's a trap!" She yelled. More rounds lit up the sky, firing right at the ship. Blake got to one of the boats, along with three squads. Six boats were able to be launched before another massive blow. Each lifeboat had three squads on it. The battleship they were on was sinking, fast.

"So long to the Emerald Forest." One of the troops said

"We need to get to the islands. It's the only way were not going to be target practice."

"Do you see an island?"

"Yes, it's got forests. Just keep moving straight. It's the only way were going to survive." They listened to Blake. They got to the islands and got out of the ships. The island was covered with trees and placed to hide. They all went to some of the hiding places.

* * *

The imperials were cheering.

"Enemy taken down. Survivors stuck on the island."

The Admiral smiled when he heard this.

"Get a landing party ready. We're going to play the most dangerous game."

The Admiral and his men were outfitted with the best weapons and armor. They had the supplies, and if worst came to worst, they had the ship.

The men were the best trackers the empire had to offer.

"Fire a green firework." The Admiral smiled "We've going to put the fear of the empire into their souls!"

The empire sent its first boat out. Thirty troops landed on the island. They jumped off the boat and moved into the forest.

* * *

Blake was sitting by a tree, getting her breath when she heard footsteps. The troops were all scattered. Blake jumped up into the tree and watched as four imperial troops walked right under her. She held her breath. They passed her without them noticing her. She went to grab her flare gun but realized it would bring every imperial on the island to her.

One of the surviving troops fired a red flare, telling everyone imperials were here. Flashes of gunfire light up the area. Blake took her bullets out her weapon. She was going to have to become the animal humans always feared her to be.

She jumped from tree to tree, being as quite as she could be.

An imperial was walking by under her, alone. Blake jumped down, and as the Imperial turned around, she sliced his throat open. His blood splashed on her face.

She grabbed the body to avoid the noise of the body hitting the ground. She took his walkie talkie and knife. She dragged the body to a bush.

She heard more gunfire.

"Got another two." She heard. She turned the volume down.

Blake went back up in the trees. She waited for someone to come nearby. Blake watched. She heard more shots fired. She closely listened for a hint that someone was coming.

She sat in the tree for half an hour before she heard something that interested her. She heard an engine. She went to the top of the tree and saw another wave of imperials. If she could fire her flare away from here, she would do it.

She had an idea. She needed a second walkie talkie.

She waited for another single imperial to come in her way. She watched as duos walked passed her, but that was too dangerous for right now. She wanted to do something, but she needed a second Walkie Talkie.

Her patience was rewarded when a wounded Imperial was walking in her direction. She got out the knife and silently went down to the ground level. The imperial turned around, but she cut his throat before he could do anything. She took his walkie talkie and went to a tree farther from her position. She spent some time making a hole in the top of the tree. She turned the volume to full, then hid an ice dust mine in the ground.

She waited for the first fools to come. She didn't have to wait long. Two imperials went came to the tree. They looked around, but didn't find anything.

One of them took a step forward, and the ice mine went off. A large shard went up through his leg. Blake rushed out from her hiding spot and slammed the knife into the first imperial, the one who didn't have ice currently in him. She took his pistol and shot the imperial. He collapsed.

She dropped the pistol and grabbed their equipment. She was going to make the island much louder.

The imperials were walking around. Most of the Alliance troops didn't give them much trouble. Four of them were walking down one of the paths that were made. They were laughing about their last kill when they heard someone talking.

"Hello imperials. You have made a grave mistake."

The troops pointed in the four directions. The voice came from another place.

"You tried to kill me."

From another direction.

"But you forgot one big thing"

From right in front of them

"I'm a hunter." Blake threw her weapon from a tree, wrapping around the neck of one of the imperials. She jumped down from the branch and fired twice. She took out two throwing knives and tossed them. The last imperial shook. He fired at Blake, but her clone took the hit. She rushed forward and got him in a head lock. She snapped his neck.

She had to move fast. She took the equipment of the imperials and went to her next ambush site. She pulled her on her weapon, and the body fell to the ground.

* * *

The Admiral saw a flash, but his men didn't report back. He sent two of his men to go check up on it.

They got to the site and saw the bodies. They reported back but heard their voices surrounding them.

"What the?" One of them say. He takes a step back and trips a trap. A knife comes flying out, entering the first troop's chest.

"Admiral, Be on guard. The Alliance trapped the area."

The Admiral admired when the enemy was resourceful.

"It doesn't matter. We just need to hunt them down. Continue your mission."

Blake listened as she was setting up the next series of traps.

"We've got a confirmed eighty-seven dead." She heard.

That wasn't good. She did the math in her head, and that left, with her, 148 troops. That would be worrying if the trend kept up.

"Good, keep up with the mission. The hunt isn't done."

Blake was disgusted. She finished her section then waited again. She saw twelve people coming. They were Imperials. They started opening fire in her direction. She looked down and saw her troops being slaughtered. She felt rage, but knew if she acted on it, she would be killed like them. By the time they stopped firing, two dozen of her men were dead.

The imperials laughed. They kept walking. Her knuckles were turning white. She had one grenade on her, but she would ruin this spot. She had to be fast. She decided to take down the imperials

She jumped down, spinning. When she landed, her blade was in the body of an imperial. She spun around quickly, hitting two of them. She moved quickly and jumped behind an imperial. They shot him twice. She grabbed his knife and threw it. She knew she didn't have much time. She wrapped her weapon around two imperials, then jumped behind them. She turned her weapon to gun mode and killed them. She tugged on the weapon.

Blake slammed her blade into an imperial then fired at another. The one who she threw the knife into fired at her, but she turned into an ice clone. She jumped on the knife with all her weight. The knife pierced his lungs. Blake jumped on two of the imperials heads and used them to boost herself to the forth troop. She slammed the blade in him.

She turned around and fired her gun. Two of them were killed. The last imperial held his gun up.

"Don't take another step forward!" He said, with fear in his voice

"Or what? Your going to shoot me?"

He shook and threw his rifle on the ground. He pulled out a pistol.

"No. I can't kill you."

"Do it." Blake said coldly. She was bluffing, hoping he was to. She wanted him to take a few steps back.

The imperial pulled the trigger. Blake watched. She didn't want to. She's never going to forget that.

She heard footsteps coming to her location. She grabbed more equipment and ran, just in time for the imperials to find the bodies.

* * *

Blake went to a new location. She finally ran into some friendly faces.

"Captain, how many people are left?" Blake asked

"Not enough. The empire's going to be sending more reinforcement. Less than eighty of us are left."

"But less than an hour ago I heard it was only eighty that died." She said

"We've been losing so many. We can't keep up." The captain looked down.

"Here, I've been planting these radios around the island. I've set up a few dozen of them. Soon, no inch of the island will be quiet."

"How are we going to avoid exposing ourselves with the flashes?"

"I've been setting up traps. They've gotten a few. I have a few knifes left. Give them to everyone left."

"Will do. We're holding out as best we can, but something's different about these people. They can see us before we see them."

"Are you sure?"

"They've been taking us down before we can even see him. We have less than half the men we had when we got off the ship."

"Get ready."

Blake continues her hunt. She made her largest trap. She didn't want to waste it.

Twenty Imperials walked down the road. Once this trap was sprung, she would have to move quick.

The troops walked down the alley. The lead took a step, and an explosion came from under his feet. Guns fired from all directions. The audio played on all the radios Blake planted around the island. Ten flares were fired in the air from every section Blake had been to. All different colors.

The still living Imperials couldn't do anything. Some tripped over traps with knives. After everything happened, Blake shot the last surviving Imperial.

She disoriented the enemy for a few precious moments. The troops on the ships saw flares fired in the air. They assumed that it was from the Alliance, but some weren't standard Alliance flares. They sent more troops in.

Blake, unaware of what the flares brought in moved from where she was. She took everything from the imperials and went to set up more traps and radios. She was getting tired. She had been up for hours doing the same thing, and the adrenaline rush was gone hours ago. She pulled out rope and went to the top of a few trees, keeping herself safe.

She somehow was able to sleep even with gunfire and sprung traps all around her.

She didn't hear as her forces were dwindling. She was able to get an hour of sleep before her ears shot up. She woke up and heard something new. The sounds of heavy armor clunking around.

* * *

She listened to the walkie talkie she had on her.

She heard nothing.

"So, a new challenger arrives. I must tell you that sending armored troops won't help you"

"Come on out. You fought bravely, but you Alliance people are less than twenty." The Admiral said

"You think that a hunter just leaves when things seem gloomy?" Blake said

"You are not the hunter here, but the hunted."

"I'm a hunter. I'm the one who set up all the traps."

"I congratulate you on that, but I must inform you that your latest stunt with the flares only doomed you."

"I don't know what you mean?"

"You called for reinforcements. Now they're here to come hunt you."

"You will not kill me."

"I am a patient man. I can wait you out."

"You won't be saying that when I put my bullet in your head."

"I love a challenge. If you can kill me then you will win this hunt. If any of you are by then, you'll go down to the grave knowing you are truly wolves surrounded by sheep."

* * *

Blake but the radio down and cursed.

She had less than two squads left. They had who knows how many enemies left. At this point the people who are still alive are the best she has. It's not much, but it gave her hope.

She looked at the moon. It was one hour before the darkest hour of the day.

She went down to the bottom of the tree. Under her were two dead imperials, who were killed by her traps. Blake sighed. She was still tired. She grabbed the equipment she'd need. She was going to have to start it all over again.

She went to another section of the forest and placed the radios. One of her men came to that section.

He went to grab the equipment from one of the dead imperials, but when he went to grab the stuff, a grenade exploded.

Blake saw what they were going. They were trying to kill her. It's a good thing she was close to end of that part of her plan, but she was going to have to be more careful. Now she had at most eighteen others.

"I've seen what you tried to do, that's not going to happen. I'm not going to die like that. Instead of desecrating the dead, why don't you come find the living."

"We could say the same to you."

Blake knew she was fighting a losing battle. There had to be hundred of imperials left on the island, and she had a dozen and a half men left.

She tried to get to some place that was safe.

The imperials started to laugh over the radios. Blake was hearing the laughing all around her. She didn't know where it was coming from.

She wanted to make it all stop, but she knew she couldn't. The laughing wasn't going to stop any time soon.

She looked for something to cover her ears.

"End it. You can't win."

The voices she was hearing inside her head was breaking through outside.

She sat down in a tree and looked at her gun. It was looking very friendly to her.

She kept looking at it. This weapon was going to get only a little bit more blood on it.

"We're going to kill you anyways, so why not give us an easier time."

"It's hopeless."

Blake's hands started to shake. She placed the gun up to her head.

A bang was heard across the island.

* * *

Blake opened her eyes. On of her men had followed what the imperials said.

Blake quickly put her weapon away. She scolded herself. She was letting them win the war of the mind. She put her weapon away. She looked around, but she didn't see anything that would make her worried.

She took a single sigh. She knew she was going to have to keep fighting, but she had to have hope that her friends would come and help.

She pulled out a knife and slammed it into the tree she was on. She tried to put her rage into it. She didn't have any need for it anymore.

Blake jumped down from the tree and went to find the admiral. If she killed him, then maybe, just maybe, the enemy will leave. Blake went to the closest to the edge she could go and still be safe.

She saw imperials, but not any that looked like they would be the leader. She didn't know what she was looking for.

Blake placed the last of the radios that she had around the area.

She spoke again to the Admiral.

"What do you look like, so I know who to kill?"

"You want a hint? Well here's one. I'm the one who'll be ending your life."

That didn't help, but it did give her hope. He was trying to look for her. Of course, most of the imperials were trying to also.

"When I find you, I'll be the one to make it out of this."

"The cub thinks she has fangs."

She sat and saw two imperials walking towards her. Something was off about them.

One of them stopped. He pulled out his gun and fired near Blake. She froze up. The second one looked at where Blake was.

He lifted his gun, but Blake jumped away from the shots. She jumped down from the tree and started her attack.

The first imperial took most of the hits. His armor took a beating, but he didn't feel a thing, and the second was getting ready to fire at Blake.

Blake cut a small hole in the armor, but after she did, she jumped out of the way. A bullet from the other imperial entered the hole. She made the hole right above the imperial's heart. After he was shot, he fell to the ground. Blake jumped into the trees again, moving as fast as she could.

"Come out beast!"

He was looking where Blake was. She jumped behind him. He turned around, only to meet the sword. The sword was driven into the eye of the imperial. She pulled out the sword. She flicked the eye off the sword.

A man walked towards Blake.

"So, here's the cub. You took out some of my men. A lot of them in fact. I'm impressed but now, you are face to face with the Admiral who has been hunting your people down."

"If I kill you, will your men leave us alone?"

"I would like to think they are honorable."

Blake rushed as fast as she could. The Admiral grabbed Blake grabbed Blake's arm. He crushed it, then he brought out his knife, and drew it into Blake. She disappeared. She was behind the Admiral and attacked him. The sword didn't puncher the armor.

"You have to have strength to take a Wolf down." He said. He spun around, hitting Blake. She flew into a tree, breaking it. The Admiral started to walk forward, when a trap was sprung. The knife did nothing against his armor.

"It will take more than that to take me down." He walked over to where Blake was. He went to grab her, but she spun around, hitting his hand.

The blade bounced off the armor again.

"This armor is the strongest armor that has ever been made. Your pitiful attacks won't hurt me."

Blake ran. She needed something that could get though that armor. She ran into a squad of imperials after she went back on the road. She made quick work of them and hoped that she would find something.

They had explosives. That's just what she needed. The Admiral caught up with her. She threw a grenade at him. He caught it and held it. After it exploded, nothing changed with him.

She swore under her breath then ran away again. She had an idea, but she needed time.

"Alliance troops, I need you to help me." She called out. "The admiral is following me. Get ready."

Blake went to the base of the mountain. It had a large base. The top of it was long and narrow. Blake jumped up and went to the top of the mountain, which wasn't large. She placed explosives around the pillar on the top of the mountain.

The admiral must have made it to the base, since she heard gunfire. She cursed herself for bringing him to the last of the troops. After she got off the top of the mountain, she pressed the detonation button. The top of the mountain came falling. The Admiral was it and held his hands up. Tons of rock was right above him. He was trying to hold it up, but his arms weren't meant to do something like this. His armor couldn't withstand this.

"You win Owl. You beat the Ox. Brains beat brawns." The top of the mountain crushed the Admiral.

Blake stood next to the giant boulder.

She turned around and saw that two of the men were killed.

"Is this everyone?" She asked?

"Yes." One of the troops said. They numbered fourteen.

"Where's the captain?"

"He's dead." One of them said

"Now that he's dead, maybe the imperials will stop." Blake said

She took out the radio.

"Imperials, your admiral is dead. Let us leave in peace."

"The captain was honor bound. We weren't."

Blake's heart sank. The first ray of the morning sin came up over the horizon.

"We get one final sunrise." One of the troops said.

Something was moving in the sunlight. She looked at it.

"Am I the only one seeing that?" Blake asked.

The troops looked at the sun and saw the thing moving closer.

"What is that?"

It was an imperial ship. Blake lost all moral.

* * *

Then it as it moved to be right over the ships, it fired at them. The ships were sunk in less than a minute.

"What… It's the 122nd!" Blake shouted. Four snub fighters came out of the ship and bombed the island. The imperials on the beach head were all killed. She cheered.

"Alright men, to the Beach head!"

They shouted and ran forward. A transport ship came out of the main ship and landed on the beach. The troops came out and scattered.

"122nd legion, this is huntress Blake Belladonna with what remains with the 101st. We're moving to your location." Blake said

She saw as the troops gunned down any imperials that came to the beach. Blake and the 101st got to the beachhead waving their hands. As Blake made it to the beach she smiled, but then a bullet hit her. She fell to the ground. It exited right under her chest. She spat up blood but moved forward. She had to hold onto her wound. The troops helped her move forward. She was hit on more time in the body. More blood. She was brought on the transport, then everyone got back on. They flew back to the main ship, where Blake was immediately bought into the med bay. The fighters came back to the ship, then they left.

* * *

 **Month 6 Day 12**

Blake was in critical condition when they brought her to the hospital. She was brought to the ER as soon as possible.

She was awake in her bed. She was still weak.

She didn't recognize it at the time, but it was Pyrrha that kept her alive. She acted quickly to save her life. Jaune tried to help best he could, but that ended up being just getting Pyrrha what she needed.

In her room now was Ruby, Sun, and her parents.

One of the bullets damaged her liver. She couldn't do much, and she was told that she would have to abstain from alcohol. Blake would also have to stay behind from fighting for a long time. She didn't know how long.

Right now, she was useless to the fight. She didn't like just sitting here.

"I was so close." She said

"That's why your alive. Its because you were so close." Ghira said.

"Blake looked at her hands."

"For a few seconds, I thought of ending it." Blake said. She still hadn't talked about it. "I placed a gun up to my head." Blake said

Kali hugged Blake. Blake felt her tears hitting her shoulder.

"We're do glad you're here." Kali said.

Blake didn't say anything.

She knew some part of her was still there on that island. She was stronger now. More cold

"I killed people." Blake said "I watched as they killed my people. I watched as one of them killed themselves."

Blake needed help, but not from the people with her right now. They don't know the horrors of war. Only three people knew on the planet.

"Mom, Dad, Sun, I need to talk to Ruby." She said. They looked at her then left.

"Blake, whatever you need…"

"I need to talk to Roni, Vuren, or Karel."

"I'll see what I can do. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"No. Besides leaving me to sleep." Ruby smiled then left. Blake went to sleep.

Blake closed her eyes, but saw the imperial killing themselves Over and Over again. She wasn't going to get an ounce of sleep until she talked to one of the people.

Blake was sitting in her bed when she saw a darkness. She shook her head and it was gone.

Salem was watching as one of the people she would love to turn to her side. She had seen Ozpin's favoritism of this up and coming Team RWBY. She had lost a weak link in Lionheart, but she needed an eye in the world of the hunters.

She had found one of her top picks, but she needed to make her crack.

This was her favorite thing to do. She wants to remind Ozpin that she is still a threat. If she could corrupt this huntress, she'll have access to Ozpin once again.

 _ **Author's Notes: Now, Blake has seen some of the worst of war.**_

 _ **She's also on the radar of Salem now.**_

 _ **This month is novel making month. Go write.**_

 _ **Please favorite, follow, and review**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	14. Chapter 13: Trials in Fall

**Chapter 13**

 **Year 0 Month 8 Day 01**

 **The war seemed to slow down in the winter months. Snow caused Vehicles to take it slow. The Air forces seemed to only deliver supplies to those trapped in battles. The Navies kept the grounds they won secure.**

Ruby loved the silence. Since the war began, it seemed that silence was gone. She hadn't seen as many battle as many of the other Jedi. She was that she was losing her skills.

"Don't worry so much Ruby. Just meditate." Vuren said.

That was hard to do. The wool in the robes she wore made it hard to concentrate. She wasn't in her regular Jedi attire. She was given a traditional Jedi Robe. Vuren was going on her last trial, and Ruby was trying to reassure her. She would have to leave soon, then Vuren would go on her last trial to see if she has what it takes to become a Jedi Knight.

Vuren got up and hugged Ruby. "Thanks for being here. One day you'll go through this."

"Is it scary?"

"Yes, but we have to let go of our fears."

Ruby left the room and saw Roni.

"Ruby, come with me. I think you'll want to watch this."

Vuren was going through the trial of insight, just like Karel went through over a year ago.

Vuren knew that something would happen to force a vision upon her. She didn't know what. Last time Roni used a dust to force the vision. Vuren had been wondering what it would be this time.

Ruby watched as Roni walked up to Vuren. Somehow Vuren didn't see her. Roni lit an incense. Vuren's head shot back. The wrapping around her eyes fell. Her eyes were shooting back and forth.

Roni went back to balcony to watch Vuren. Her scroll buzzed, and she read the message.

Ruby looked at her. "You should be here master. Don't worry whatever it is, I'll take care of it."

"That's very kind. Thankfully, it's just checking on something. Ask Karel if you could borrow his ship for this."

"Alright." Ruby said. She left the room.

* * *

When she got to Karel's house he was walking outside of it.

"Karel!" Ruby shouted.

"Yes?" He turned and saw Ruby. "Oh, Ruby, what is it?" He asked

"I'm going to check on a disturbance near the temple we went to. Can I borrow your ship?"

"Why does everyone take my ship? Do you even know how to fly it?"

"No… but I can get someone who can."

"I'm the only person here. Bora's out training our troops, and Yang's with her band. Vuren can't fly, and Roni's doing stuff."

"Yeah, Vuren's knighthood trial." Karel whistled.

"I did that over a year ago. What took her so long?" Karel joked

"It's just a disturbance, so We'll be able to be back here before she finishes up." Ruby said

"Alright. I have time. Let's go."

Ruby and Karel go to his ship and Karel sits in the co-pilot seat. Ruby looks at him

"Your going to have to learn how to fly this thing. I'll be here to make sure you don't crash it."

"Okay…" Ruby gets in her seat. She looks at the buttons. Karel points to the start button.

Ruby starts the ship, and they start flying. Ruby takes it slow.

"Good, don't get us killed by going faster than you need." A button starts flashing. Karel presses the button, and a hologram of Bora come up.

"Hello Ruby, Is Karel with you?" Bora said.

"Yeah, I'm right here." Karel said

"Where are you going?"

"Roni wants us to check on something at the old Jedi Temple. Shouldn't take too long. Anything you need?'

"Yeah, did you send squad 7 off on a special recon mission?" Karel thought about it for a second.

"Yeah… I did. They're going on an educational trip. I sent them to find healthy edible things in the wild. It's wilderness survival training."

"I see. When was that?"

"Two days ago"

"Have you seen them?"

"No. Where did I send them again…" Karel snaps. "I remember, I sent them to the old… Jedi… Temple… I caused the disturbance."

"No, I don't think you did. I got a report from them that they saw something near where you're talking about. If your heading there, you'll probably run into squad 7. Make sure they're safe." Bora said

"I'll tell them that you worry about them. Should make them feel good." Karel said

"You care for them too."

"Yeah, but I don't act like their mother. That's your job." Karel said

"Keep your eyes open. Love you."

"Love you too." Bora ended the call.

"What do you think we're going to find at the temple?"

"I don't know. Could be anything. Grimm maybe." Karel scratched his chin. "It's a good thing we put a new security system around the place."

"Yeah. Don't we normally have a security team there?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah…. Ruby, I'm taking over."

"Okay." Karel pressed a few buttons, then he took control of the ship. He sped up and got to the sight on half an hour. He landed where he did last time.

"Be on guard Ruby. We have no idea what's here." Karel grabbed his lightsaber. Ruby went for hers. When they left the ship, they started walking towards the old temple. Squad 7's leader came up to Karel.

"Commander, the temple has been breached."

* * *

Vuren woke up in the testing room. She saw Roni smiling.

"You did it!" She shouted. Vuren smiled. She rose up, but then the door exploded. The guards were killed, but The Jedi weren't. Ruby got out her lightsaber and took down two imperials.

"Imperials!" One of the Jedi shouted. Vuren got her lightsabers and jumped up on the Balcony. Roni cut down another two imperials.

"How are they this far in?"

"It's a surprise attack. We should have seen this coming!" One of the Jedi said.

Vuren cut down another two. Then six Sith drop down. She could feel that dark side rippling off them.

"Let's see how the Jedi fare against us." One of the Sith said

"Yes, Let's"

The Sith charged forward. Vuren caught one of the blade, then tried to slash the Sith.

* * *

Ruby and Karel walked to the temple door. The security guards were dead. Karel closed their eyes.

"Squad 7, our enemy is after the memorial chamber! We cannot let them get to it."

"Yes sir!" They shouted.

Ruby knew what he was talking about. They went into the chamber and saw a dead… person. They weren't in imperial clothing. Karel turned one over, and he saw that this was a white fang member… who died in mistral.

"What?"

He saw new breath come into the person in a dark realm… He saw a woman come towards him. It was Cinder.

Cinder said something, but he couldn't hear what she said.

"Ruby, be careful. Something's not right." Karel said

"You can say that again." Ruby said

They went further down. Karel noticed that the attackers didn't have any blood. Confusion lit his face.

They moved forward and saw dead in most of the rooms. Karel heard gunshots coming from the memorial room. He hurried and went to the room. The door was locked. He would have to unlock it with a lightsaber.

Karel stabbed the door. The door was a dense door, and it was very hard to cut. It took Karel Two minutes to cut thought the door. He pushed the door in.

Karel and Ruby entered the room. Squad 7 stayed behind to make a sweep of the temple.

In the room Karel's eyes narrowed at the sight he saw. Mercury and Emerald were standing there.

"You." Karel said

* * *

Vuren was able to take a Sith down, but two of the Jedi were dead.

Roni was doing the best she could to fight against the strongest. Ruby wasn't faring too well.

"Don't get over confident!" Roni yelled.

Ruby force pushed a Sith and got out her Crescent Rose and fired at the Sith. The Sith was hit in the stomach. He got mad, and rushed Ruby. Ruby wasn't ready and was quickly killed.

"NO!" Vuren yelled. She jumped behind the wounded Sith and cut him down. Roni took down her Sith, and quickly dispatched another. The last remaining Jedi besides Roni or Vuren was killed.

Two Sith and two Jedi.

They rushed forward locking their blades.

* * *

"Us." Emerald said

"I know the Schnee's mistreated the miners. I am more aware of that then you know. I've been trying to stop that, but that doesn't give you the right to murder Whitley!" Karel shouted. Ruby looked at Emerald.

Emerald Started laughing.

"You believed that?" She said. Karel gripped his lightsaber tighter. "I must be a good actress. What do you say Mercury?"

"You convinced a Jedi knight, so I'd say yes." Mercury got in a fighting stance.

"It's time for a rematch. Let's see if the Jedi is stronger now."

Ruby turned her lightsaber on. That caught Emerald's eye.

"So, you're a Jedi now. So, what? You stand no chance…" She looked at Ruby's eyes. Mercury looked also. They were more defensive now

Karel noticed this. He was going to have to over compensate for the defense of Ruby. Ruby hadn't noticed yet that everyone was focused on her.

"Silver eyed Jedi were always a thorn in Salem's side." Mercury said.

"Ruby Rose was you name right…"

"Yes." Ruby said

"Was Summer Rose your mother? If she was do you know how she died?"

"Yes. Salem killed her."

"Yes. She did" Emerald said disappointed.

She lifted her gun up and fired. She didn't fire at the Jedi, but at the lights. Karel rushed forward and attacked Mercury. He turned off his lightsaber until right before the slice. Karel cut off his Arm. Emerald grabbed Mercury and left in a portal Salem made. Two people came out of the portal. They held up red lightsabers.

"We're Jedi who were killed by Salem. We're here to kill you." One of them said

"We're sorry. We can't control ourselves."

* * *

Vuren cut the leg off the Sith, the cut him with an X across his chest. Roni spun around planting her lightsaber into the Sith.

"Master, they got Ruby."

Roni looked down with Sadness in her eyes.

"We have to keep going. If the Sith were able to get to us here, who knows where they are."

"Right master." Roni and Vuren hurried up to the top of the elevator shaft. When they go to the top, they saw the Sith cutting down Jedi and hunters in the street. It was horrible. Karel was one of the only Jedi still fighting. He cut down another Sith.

He sliced the head off one, then looked at them.

"Ozpin's dead!"

A Sith Lord jumped down and slammed his lightsaber into Karel. Karel coughed up, then slammed his lightsaber through himself.

"I'm Sorry." Karel said.

Vuren ran towards him and grabbed his body. She closes his eyes. She grabbed Karel's lightsaber.

"I'm sorry friend."

* * *

Ruby spun her lightsaber and was able to get a scratch on her enemy. Karel was able to duck under a slash, then headbutt the guy. Karel kicked the lightsaber out of his hand the quickly dispatched of his opponent. He needed to help Ruby.

Ruby got hit by a force blast that sent her flying back. Karel stopped the killing blow by pushing the attacker. Ruby got up and slashed at him.

He blocked the attack

"I'm sorry. I can't control myself. You have to kill me."

"Can you start making more mistakes?" Karel asked.

"You have the skill to take me down. You have to have the resolve." He said.

"We have to do this" Karel said. He was going to use the technique he came up with. He pulled five to him. Three of them circles him in a star shape, and the other two circled around the star. Karel walked forward. Ruby never saw it like this. Karel only ever had two lightsabers to use.

"Salem is going to take note of you Jedi knight." The enemy said.

* * *

Vuren saw Sith and Jedi fighting around them. She saw a Grey Jedi ship coming, dropping off grey Jedi everywhere. The empire sent out thousands of battle droids. The Alliance sent out its own troops. Bombs were falling all around them. It was overwhelming Vuren's senses.

"Keep fighting!" Roni said. Then a dark cloud filled the sky. A woman fell from the cloud and landed close by. She looked up and raised her hand. Hundreds of Dark portals opened, and Grimm started filling the streets. Now it was a mess. Jedi fighting Sith, fighting droids, fighting Grimm.

The woman pulled out a red lightsaber and started moving forward, towards Roni and Vuren. Two grey Jedi jumped in the way but were dead in seconds. A Jedi ran to stop her, but they stood no chance. A Sith fired lightning at her, but she just put her hand up, and absorbed the blast.

She sent it right back, but this was black lightning. There was no body left. Half a dozen Grey Jedi, three Jedi, and four Sith ran up to face the woman.

They fought bravely, but they didn't last long. Vuren started to have a sense of dread come over her.

"Vuren, don't be afraid, she feed off fear."

"Who is She?" Vuren asked.

"Her name's Salem."

"Salem?"

"Yes, she's the one who destroyed the Order here on Remnant." Roni said

Vuren held her lightsabers close to her. It seemed as if where ever Salem stepped, death followed. Any who tried to fight here were struck down.

She just kept moving forward. Nothing stopped her. The Grimm were tearing the average person apart. She was terrifying.

* * *

Karel blocked the attack from the Enemy with one of the lightsabers. The enemy took note of the style. He couldn't block the onslaught that would be coming his way. He stepped back, but With Ruby there, he couldn't take a break. He had to keep going on.

"You're good Jedi Knight." Salem's Jedi said

"You can't win this."

"I wasn't meant to. I was a distraction." After that he turned his lightsaber off. Karel couldn't stop the circle, and the lightsaber cut him in half. Lights came back on, and Karel looked around. Some of the lightsabers were stolen.

Karel and Ruby went to check on the lightsabers. All the ones stolen were from masters.

"What's Salem planning?"

"We don't have time to think about that. We need to get the remaining lightsabers to the temple." Karel said.

"That seems like desecrating the memories."

"I know, but if they stay here, Salem's going to steal them. I'm going to call squad 7 to see if they found anything. Karel his lightsabers away, then started to clip the lightsabers he borrowed to his belt. Ruby started to gather the lightsabers.

"Squad 7, report"

"Nothing commander."

"Good, come up to the memorial room. We're going to have to carry a lot of stuff back with us."

"Yes sir."

They got up to the room.

"Squad 7, we're going to be taking the lightsabers that remain in the temple and we're going to load them onto my ship. Then we'll fly back to Vale. We need to report these things to high command."

"Yes sir." Squad 7 started gathering the lightsabers. Karel felt dirty doing this, but he knew it was better than Salem taking them.

* * *

Salem got to where Roni and Vuren were. The Grandmaster jumped down and started to fight. The other council members joined in. Together they were able to push Salem. She had to put effort in. When Roni joined in Vuren had a thought pass though her mind.

"We may win this!" She thought. Then her hopes were dashed when Salem cut down the grandmaster. The other Jedi continued their fight, but slowly they were each cut down until Roni was left.

"Vuren, I'm sorry. I'm not strong enough." Roni said, then Salem slammed her lightsaber into Roni's chest. Vuren felt her heart start to burn… but not like she just saw her master die.

Something wasn't right.

Salem walked to Roni.

"You are the last of the Jedi. After I kill you then I'll finally be rid of my biggest enemy."

Vuren knew something was off.

"This… is my test."

"Your mind is giving you visions of grandeur. I'll make sure that's gone."

Vuren turned her lightsabers on.

"My master's not dead. She's still alive, and the feeling I felt when you struck down this illusion was nothing compared to what I would feel if you did kill her. My friends aren't dead. My home isn't destroyed." Vuren said

"I would tell you to look around but that would just be cruel. So instead, I'm just going to cut you to pieces. I'm going to feed you to my pets. I'm going to burn your precious school down and break the temple."

"You are an illusion." Vuren got down on her knees and started to meditate. Salem screamed, then brought her lightsaber down. Vuren felt nothing. Then opened her eyes. Though she was blind, she saw greater than any with eyes.

For the first time in years, she has been able to see clearly. She saw the flow of the universe. She saw life itself.

The image that flooded her head was breathtaking, and a tear flowed down Vuren's face.

She saw she was in the testing chamber. She arose to her feet.

* * *

"Master." Vuren said then bowed where Roni was.

"You completed the final test to become a knight." Roni said. Karel and Ruby came down the elevator. Ruby ran to the balcony.

"I've passed." Vuren said.

Vuren could that Ruby was smiling.

"Congratulation!" Ruby shouted. Roni put her hand on Ruby and Karel.

"What was at the temple?"

"Salem. She stole about thirty lightsabers from past masters."

Roni clenched her teeth. "I should have known. What about the other lightsabers?"

"We have them. My men brought almost all of them to the Temple. Ruby and I have the other four."

"I see. Well, we have to go knight Vuren."

"I'd like that." Vuren said.

Roni, Karel, and the other Jedi knights made the circle. Roni repeated those words she told Karel when he was made a knight.

 _By the right of the council,_

 _By the Will of the Force_

 _I dub thee knight of the Republic_

 _I dub thee knight of Remnant_

Roni repeated. She moved the strand of hair to where she could cut it. Roni made a quick slice. Releasing Vuren from the rank of Padawan and bringing Vuren to the Rank of knight.

She hugged Roni. Her master from childhood. The woman who watched over her during the Clone wars, and who saved her from the clones. Roni was the closest thing to Mother she had. Roni hugged back.

Karel smiled. He forgot for a moment about the War and Salem.

Vuren hugged Karel. They were best friends for as long as they could remember. They were the only people to know what life was like after the Clone Wars.

Ruby was right outside the circle. Vuren hugged her too. For the past year she was the person who was there for her. Ruby and Vuren worked side by side for the entirety of the War so far. Those days would be ending, but her friendship won't.

The Jedi left except for those who were once Roni's Padawan's.

"I'm back down to one." Roni said.

"I wouldn't have passed the trials without you master."

"Don't forget the lessons I taught you." Roni said She turned to Karel. "What happened?"

"We went to the temple and saw the security forces dead. I sent squad 7 to train in the area. Good thing they did. We went into the temple, then we found some of Salem's lackies." Karel said

"You recognized them. Who were they?"

"They were the people who killed Whitley. Salem started this War." Karel said

"That's… disturbing." Roni said. "This is going to have to come to the Council. We're also going to need to do something about all the lightsabers that you've collected."

"I was thinking that Ruby should keep one of them."

"Really?" Roni said

"Yes. We met this Jedi when Ruby and I went to the temple the first time. He was a descendant of Revan and Bastila Shan. He told us about his twin brother."

"Why would Ruby take it?"

"He promised me that it would bring me great knowledge. I was also with him when he died."

"I see… I think we'll be able to do that. It's inheritance. If the Jedi gives a lightsaber to someone before they die, then who they give it to is the owner of it." Roni said

"That's why Yang gets the lightsaber she has."

"Yes."

"But what of the lightsabers that weren't past on?"

"They are made memorials for the holder."

"Why do you think Salem stole the lightsabers?"

"We… have an idea. One of our Jedi found out that Salem could revive the dead and force them to work for her. The war's the perfect cover to bolster her forces. She's an ancient evil. She's killed hundreds of Jedi. Who knows how many Jedi she has under her control."

"I see."

"She doesn't have my mother." Ruby said

"How do you know that?" Roni asked

"We buried her body. I saw my Mother hurt Salem. Badly."

"Then Salem can be defeated." Roni said "Go you three. Go celebrate. I have to de a few things before I can celebrate with you."

"alright master." Vuren said. Roni put her hand on Vuren's shoulder.

"I'm no longer your master. I'm just your senior." Roni said

* * *

Roni went to Ozpin.

"Salem's stealing lightsabers from Jedi masters. Somethings going to happen and soon." Roni said

"Yes. I can feel that. She wants only death. She wants us all to die. Curse the Gods for not destroying her. Curse them for keeping her here for so long. Curse them for leaving." Ozpin said.

"How old is she?"

"Thousands of years old."

"I thought you said she's younger than the schools." Vuren said

"Correct, but also false."

"Explain."

"You see, her latest iteration is young. Less than two hundred years old. Salem's body is different from what you would expect. It's like a battery."

"I see."

"Yes. Every thousand years she must replace the body, but her soul is still intact. And her memories."

"How do you know this?" Roni asked

"Well, you see. Salem and I we're husband and wife at one point." Roni looked at Ozpin.

"What?"

"She was a good person once. She… changed because I died."

"So that means the both of you change bodies. How much longer do you have with this body?"

"I live regular lifespan. Salem has killed me at least four times. She hates me more than the Gods."

"There has to be more to it."

"She blames me for killing our children."

"Did you?"

"No. She killed our children when she destroyed our home. They were the four maidens. She killed me right afterwards."

"So, the maidens' power was created through… your seed?" Roni said

"Yes, and Salem."

Roni rubbed her chin.

"How can we defeat Salem?"

"There is one of two ways to do it. Three of my deaths were caused by it. Salem needs a new body every thousand years. That is when she is the weakest. She becomes killable then."

"What's the other way?"

"Praying that when the Gods come back we can convince them to take her powers away."

"And if we don't?"

"Then all those who come from this planet will die. Less then ten people left alive."

"What if there's another way?"

"If there is, I've not found it."

"But what about Jash Beam and Tanner? Tanner's reports said he found a way to kill Salem for good."

"Yes. But we can't find the place where the report is hidden."

"We'll keep looking for it."

"You do that." Roni nodded and left the room.

* * *

Ozpin knew he could trust the Jedi the most. He was one in a past life. He sat back.

"I think I should go to check on the spring maiden."

Ozpin went down to the chamber. He looked at the Maiden. It was easier to keep her safe.

"Troubled, are you?" Ozpin heard.

"Master Yoda. The force connects us. I can talk to you down here, with the Maiden, but not anywhere else."

"Strong the force is where you are."

"Yes. It is. This young woman has been dying for almost two years. I think soon she'll go."

"Pass we all must."

"But then her powers will go to someone who's truly evil."

"Stop this can you?"

"No. She'll pass. That we can't stop. But we can give the remaining power to one person…"

"Trusted is this person?"

"I think she trusts me. Am I abusing her trust?"

"No answer I have for you. Unique your planet is. Little advice I can give you."

"I'll have to do it."

* * *

Ozpin called his inner circle.

"The Maiden's going to die very soon. James, we have to use your machine."

"Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Pyrrha Nikos."

The shook their heads.

"That's a good choice." James said

"Can she handle it?" Asked Qrow

"She's not out in the field." Glynda said

"Is this right?" Roni asked. "If this is right, then I will get her."

They looked at each other.

"We have no other option." Glynda said

"That's not what I asked."

Ozpin sighed.

"I have no answer. On one hand, it's condemning Miss Nikos to our lives. On the other, we can't let this power fall into Salem's hands."

"These options are both bad, but one is worse. We're going to have to do it."

Roni didn't like it, but she knew it had to be done.

"Let's do it." Roni said, "Curse Salem for making us do this."

* * *

 **Month 8 Day 2**

Pyrrha walked into Ozpin's office. She looked around seeing most of the War council here.

"Come miss Nikos, take a seat." Ozpin said

"What's going on?" Pyrrha said.

"Miss Nikos. What do you know of the tale of the four Maidens?" Ozpin asked.

Pyrrha told the story about an old man giving four maidens power. She told of the kindness of the women, and the old man. Ozpin smiled as she retold the story.

He knew it was altered over the years, with no small part on him, being the author of the tale.

"What if I told you that some fairytales have more truth. What if I told you that tale was true?"

"What are you saying?"

"Those four maidens, their real. They use magic. Crazy right?" Qrow said

"What…" Pyrrha looked at everyone. "Why are you telling me this?

"We are telling you this, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe you are next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers." Pyrrha looked at the faces of everyone.

"Wait, what is this? Who are you?" She said

"You know who we are. We're still the same teachers and Headmasters you met when you arrived at Beacon."

"But we've got a little part-time job" Qrow said

"We are the protectors of the world." Ironwood said

"And we need your help" Ozpin said

They all went to the elevator and went down to where the Fall Maiden slept, barely clinging to life.

"I'm sure you must have questions." Roni said. "I had them too."

"Maybe one, or two... I still don't understand. You said I was next in line to receive the Maiden's power. What do you mean by that?" Pyrrha asked

"The Maidens have existed for thousands of years. But much like in nature, the seasons change. No two summers are alike. When a Maiden dies, her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost, and that no individual can hold on to that power forever." Goodwitch explained

Pyrrha: So, how does the power choose?

"Through a series of stupid and convoluted rules." Qrow said

"Qrow." Roni said

"Hey, don't get mad 'cause I'm right." Qrow said

"At first, the only thing that was certain was that the powers were specifically passed on to young women. But as time went on, it was discovered that the selection process was much more... intimate." Goodwitch said.

"... Intimate?" Pyrrha asked concerned

"As we understand it now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power."

"Unless it's a dude or some old hag. Then the power goes to someone random, and our job gets a lot harder." Qrow Said

"Why tell me all of this now? Why not wait until I've graduated?" Pyrrha asked.

"Honestly, we've run out of time. I don't know if you've noticed, but things are getting a lot scarier out in the world. Tensions are high. Grimm are growing stronger, and people are forgetting how to fight them. It's not going to long before something big happens."

"Like what?"

"Both Karel and Vuren had dreams where Vale was destroyed. We only make them have a vision. That might mean that there is an attack coming, soon."

"We can fill you on the details once we know that you're with us. For now, all you need to know is that one of the Maidens has been attacked. And for the first time in history, part of her power was stolen."

They go to where the Fall Maiden is being kept. Ozpin puts his hand on the case

"I'm sorry." He whispers.

"Is that..." Pyrrha start

"The current Fall Maiden, Amber."

"She's... still alive." Pyrrha said

"For now. We're using state of the art Atlas technology to keep her stable. But there is a lot about this situation that is... unprecedented." Ironwood said

"What do you mean?"

Ironwood sighs, then he closed his eyes

"Won't... her power... just transfer to the next host?" Pyrrha asked

"Look who's been listening! She is smart." Qrow said

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But this is a delicate situation. It's not uncommon for the last thoughts of the slain to be of their attacker. And to make matters worse, no one's seen the power split like this before. For all we know, it will seek out its other half." Ironwood said.

"...Her assailant." Pyrrha was starting to connect the pieces together

"And that would not bode well for any of us." Ozpin said

Pyrrha lowered her head in thought, then suddenly came forward and placed her hand on the glass of Amber's pod.

"If all of this is true, why keep it secret!? If this girl is so important... If she's so powerful. Why not use her power to stop this war?" Pyrrha said extremely angrily.

"From what we understand, it used to be common knowledge." Goodwitch said

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha asked.

Qrow took out his flask "How do you think legends and fairy tales get started? Even the craziest ones come from somewhere." He said, while taking a sip

"Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens. Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength." Roni said

"And as you can imagine, the ones that succeeded weren't exactly the ones you'd want to have unimaginable power." Qrow said

"And so our brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend." Ironwood said

"The things we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history and religion." Goodwitch said

"No one would want to believe us. It would cause an uproar." Ironwood said

"It would cause panic. And we all know what that would bring to clawing at our Kingdom's walls. And who. Which is why we would like to..." Ozpin said

"I'll do it. If you believe that this will help humanity... then I will become your Fall Maiden. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" Pyrrha said with vigor. Everyone watched her.

"It is, but I'm afraid it's not that simple. Given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally. However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution." Ozpin said

"For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint; how it works, what's it made of, how it can be used. We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it." Ironwood said. With emphasis on believe

"Capture it and cram it into something else, or in your case..." Qrow said pointing at Qrow

"That's..." Pyrrha said, looking at Ironwood

"Classified."

"...wrong!" Pyrrha said

"The feeling is mutual. But desperate times call for desperate measures." Goodwitch says

"I wish it didn't need to come to this." Roni said

"And these are indeed desperate times. We can't transfer Amber's power to you, but we can give you what those powers are bound to." Ironwood said

"...Her Aura."

"Her life would become intertwined with yours. The question is..." Ozpin began

"What's that going to do to you?" Qrow finished

"You have an important decision before you, Miss Nikos. There's no guarantee this transfer will work. And there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time on this matter. But understand that before the month is over, we need an answer"

Pyrrha didn't respond, instead placing her hand on the glass separating the maiden from her potential replacement, seeing her scared expression reflected on the scarred face of the dying girl, before turning away from this expected destiny as Ozpin gives one final warning.

"The assailant that attacked the Fall Maiden has made their first move. And there's no telling when their next move will be." Ozpin said.

The die was cast, and Salem never played fair. This too familiar game has begun anew. And the ever-present feeling of dread hung over Ozpin.

 _ **Author's Notes: I'm mixing stuff from the older seasons with stuff from the newer seasons of RWBY. If any of this is inaccurate to the show, many mistakes in this story came about from starting in Season 3**_

 _ **Hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving. I did.**_

 _ **Leave a follow, favorite, and review. Tell me about your thoughts.**_

 _ **May the Force Be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	15. Chapter 14: Maiden

**Chapter 14**

 **Year 0 Month 8 Day 30**

 **Pyrrha Nikos was given a choice, to take half of the fall maiden power, or to have a normal life, and she had only month to come up with the answer.**

Pyrrha though about this decision for the past Month. She didn't know what it would do to her, or her life. She wanted to tell Jaune, but she didn't know how to tell him. She though of anyone she could talk to about this, that wouldn't pressure her into this.

"How many know about this?" She asked herself. She determined that no one on her team, or team RWBY knew, but maybe… BMBL?

BMBL had been all but disbanded at this point, and half of it wasn't even a real name, but they would seem to have the most knowledge of this sort of stuff. It was a long shot, but she had till today to do it.

She went to Vuren first.

Vuren was relaxing. She had her first day off since she became a knight. She was, and Bora still lived in the dorms, but most of Bora's stuff had been moved to Karel's home.

Pyrrha knocked on the door.

"Come on in Pyrrha." She said. Pyrrha forgot for a second that she could see though the force.

"I have a question."

"I may have an answer, but I make no promises." Vuren said

"Has your master shared anything with you about a secret?"

"You need to be more specific. Is this about the War?"

"Yes and no. If you were offered a great power, but you would lose yourself, would you take it?"

"No. I'm a Jedi. We don't want for power. It's the Sith that want power for power."

"Well, what if getting that power was the only way to keep it from the bad guys."

"Who's to say who are the bad guys. The Imperials think we're the bad guys you know. There can even be bad Jedi. But if you're talking about the maidens then I would ask you how you found out about them"

"How do you know?"

"The Jedi Libraries are the largest fountain of knowledge on Remnant, and many of them mention the maidens. A few Jedi have even been Maidens before."

"Yeah, it's about the Maidens. The woman who controls the Grimm is trying to get the Maiden's power, and she half succeeded. Half the power is in someone else."

Vuren thought about it. She didn't answer for a few seconds.

"If I were you, I would try to keep it out of Salem's hands. She wants us dead. Don't give her the opportunity to get more power, but I would warn you to be careful not to lose yourself. The Maiden's power is dangerous. It's killed more than one who couldn't handle it." Vuren said

Pyrrha just sat there.

"Thanks" She finally got out.

"Now, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Pyrrha said

"How do I look. Since I can't really see."

"I'm not the person you should be asking. But I think you look nice."

"I was thinking of getting a new outfit. No sleeves, pants, loose. It will help me when fighting not be restricted."

"Are you restricted now?"

"A little, but I know that this new outfit would have to maximize efficiency."

"What about protection?"

"I fight fast. I move fast. I have no need for armor."

"Then I would suggest you be careful. I have to go now and accept my destiny."

"Destiny doesn't always tie us down. It's your choice that will determine your destiny."

Pyrrha smiled at her, then left the room. She was scared, but she felt she had to do this.

* * *

Pyrrha went to Ozpin's Office.

"Miss Nikos, do we have your answer?"

"Yes. I will do it."

Both joy and pain were visible on Ozpin's face.

"Thank you." Ozpin said. Qrow came out and saw Pyrrha. He looked at Ozpin.

"So, what did she say?"

"I'll do it."

"Well then, let's do this before you know who finds out."

"It's dangerous for us to do it today. It's a new moon." Ozpin said

"Yeah. But that's all the more reason to do it." Qrow said

"Where are Goodwitch and Roni. I would feel better if they are with us when we do this. We have no idea what could happen."

"Don't worry, there already down there." Qrow said

"Then… let's go." Ozpin got up and the three went in the elevator. No one said anything. They got to the bottom floor.

Goodwitch and Roni were standing ready.

"This may hurt. We have no idea what its going to be like." Roni said. She had her hands on her lightsabers. Everyone was ready to get into a fight.

Ozpin looked at the Machine. Pyrrha got in it.

"Are you ready?" Ozpin said

Pyrrha looked at him.

"I need to hear you say it?"

"Yes."

"Thank you miss Nikos."

The pod closed, and Ozpin turned it on.

"You think your going to win so easily?" Ozpin heard. "While I can't be there love, have a gift from me."

Ozpin turned around and saw Hazel Rainart come from the shadows.

"Ozpin" He said. Everyone got ready for the fight.

Ozpin quickly sent a message to Ironwood to get help to defend Pyrrha.

"Lynda, stay close to the pod." Ozpin said

"Got it." She said. Roni turned on her blades, and Qrow got his scythe ready. Ozpin was ready to defend Pyrrha.

Salem laughed at Ozpin.

"You did tend to ruin what you touched."

"We touched more than once." Ozpin said in his head. He knew if Salem could talk to him, He could talk to her.

"Yes, we did. I still never figured out why you left me. When we meet each other after this body has run its course, I'll kill you again then."

"I never wanted you to resurrect me. I waited for you." Ozpin said. He looked at the fight, to see Hazel coming towards him. He avoided the fist then moved to attack. He swung the cane hitting Hazel. He shrugged it off. He slammed Ozpin in a wall.

* * *

Ironwood looked at the message and swore. He got a dozen droids moving to that location, but he feared that wouldn't be enough. He hated having to do this, but…

Ironwood made an executive decision and contacted the leader of the 122nd legion. Karel was in Vale, but he didn't know how much he knew.

Karel looked at his scroll. He didn't understand it, but he did see a series of coordinates. It was below Ozpin's office, far below. He got his lightsabers and his jacket on. He got to the tower and found the button. He called Ironwood, and he picked up.

"Yes Commander?"

"How do I get to wherever you want me to go?"

"There is a button that doesn't corollate with any floor in the tower, press that one. Be ready to fight."

"What's going on?"

"Ozpin will explain, first you need to help him."

"Alright."

"Ironwood out."

Karel found the button and pressed it. The elevator started going down.

* * *

Ozpin got hit by Hazel. He skidded back. He breathed heavily and sweat fell down his face. The elevator door opened. Hazel saw Karel.

"What's happening?" Karel took out his lightsaber and turned it on. Qrow yelled out

"Watch out Kid. This guy works for Salem." Hazel rushed Qrow and slammed him against the wall.

"Ozpin, that's not fair bringing another Jedi with you. I guess He'll have to face my apprentice."

As Hazel charged, he stopped. He turned and saw Cinder.

"He's mine. I have to pay him back for hurting my people." Cinder said. She pulled out a red lightsaber.

Roni force pushed her. She turned to her.

"Look at this, I get to kill two Jedi today!"

Hazel fought Ozpin, Goodwitch, and Qrow, while Cinder fought Roni and Karel.

Karel was definitely better than he was when he fought the inquisitor. Cinder was too.

"Didn't you almost get killed by that inquisitor?" Cinder said

"Funny, I remember the same thing happening to you. Cinder was fast. Her blows were blurs, but Karel trained in defensive fighting. He would draw the attention while Roni attacked. Karel was able to block the hits, but he would eventually lose if nothing else changed. Roni started her attack, which caught Cinder off guard.

Hazel grabbed Qrow, and tried to use him to attack Goodwitch, but turned into a bird. He flew away from Hazel's grasp. He turned back into a human.

"Be careful" Goodwitch said

"I know. I know." He said. He hadn't used the force in a long time, but he knew he would have to use it for this fight. Sparks came from his hand, then he sent out lighting from his fingertips. Hazel screamed. Ozpin went in and landed a series of hits. After Ozpin was finished, he looked at Hazel. Hazel glared at him.

Hazel punched. Ozpin blocked with his cane, then it split in two. He looked at his weapon with a pain in his eyes. Hazel punched him when he was distracted. He was about to end Ozpin when they heard a loud noise. All the fighting ended. The Pod opened. Pyrrha walked out with a newfound power.

"NO!" Cinder said She started to charge at Pyrrha, but Karel and Roni got in front of her. She was almost bursting with anger. Roni looked at Karel. She shook her head. Karel smiled. They rose up and Karel used the force to create his sphere. Roni tossed her offhand lightsaber to him, and he made the sphere deadlier. Cinder looked at it. He was getting better at doing this. He was also getting faster. He was able to walk normally now.

Hazel dropped Ozpin. He sent out a fire spell that burned his face, including his eye. Qrow force pushed him into the portal that was made.

"You win this time, but don't get used to it." Cinder went back into the portal. It closed.

"Soon, I'll have your head." Salem said.

Pyrrha collapsed. Roni caught her. Karel turned off the lightsabers. He tossed Roni her lightsaber.

"Now I need to know what's happening? Why were they here?" Karel asked. "And what's happened to Pyrrha?"

Ozpin got up, breathing heavily. He looked at his cane. Goodwitch fixed it.

"Thank you." He said. She smiled. "To answer your question Commander Allusis, this is going to take a while. You know about Salem, but you don't know anything about her."

"Go on."

"She wants to destroy all of life on Remnant." Ozpin said. Karel sighed.

"Why can't there be one evil person that doesn't want to wipe out all life. She was a force user who turned to the Dark side. Is she a Sith?"

"Yes and no. Her latest incarnation is, and her first incarnation, but not all. Salem's Body fall apart every millennium."

"What?"

"Karel, just like you had a secret that would change the world, we have one too. We try to save the world behind the scenes." Goodwitch said

"Then did you stand by as the Jedi were killed off?"

"No. At that point I was a Jedi." Ozpin said

"What?"

"Salem and I were cursed by the Gods to walk this world until they come back. I change bodies while Salem steals them. When that happened, I was a Jedi master. I failed to defeat her. She was too strong for me. I never stood a chance."

"How old are the two of you?"

"We're thousands of years old. I've changed bodied hundreds of times. I don't know how many times she has changed."

"Why was Pyrrha in that thing?"

"We were transferring aura into her."

"What a second, what is this? This is wrong."

Karel looked at Ozpin. Pyrrha opened her eyes. Qrow looked at her, and Amber. Her pod opened. Qrow went to her and felt for a pulse but found nothing. "She's gone."

"No… She is with me." Pyrrha said weakly.

"What?" Ozpin asked

"I can feel her." Pyrrha looked at Karel. "I chose this." She said. She dropped her head.

"She's going to need time to rest. We don't know what this will do to her." Ozpin said

"You're going to tell me everything."

"We will Commander Allusis, but you will forgive us for making you wait some time."

"Fine. Master Roni, I'm going back to Pare."

"What? Why?"

"The 122nd will replace the current force there."

"Alright. When you return, you'll be told everything."

"Good." Karel turned around. "Team RWBY to join me."

"Anger doesn't fit you." Roni said

"And lies don't fit you master. Does Vuren know about this?"

"I pointed her towards the information about this, but she doesn't know everything."

"Do you?" Karel went on the elevator and just looked at Roni. Karel left.

* * *

Roni looked at Ozpin. "Do I know everything?"

Qrow clenched his fist. Roni looked at him.

He looked at Roni, and she saw his eyes switching from yellow to there normal color. The Dark side

"Calm down Qrow." Roni said. Goodwitch got Pyrrha and went to the elevator.

"Why should I?" He started to laugh. "We're in a war! We should be taking the fight to Salem."

Ozpin stood up. "Qrow. Don't let it overtake you."

"What? The evil dark side! That's right, I know you Jedi think I'm a freak." He lifted his hand up at Roni. She pulled out her lightsaber. "Yes, you're going to kill me aren't you?"

Qrow looked down and saw roots grip him. Pyrrha looked up.

"Calm down." She said.

Qrow looked at everyone looking at him. His eyes changed back.

"Your right." Qrow said. Roni put her lightsaber away. Ozpin put his hand on Qrow's shoulder.

"It's alright. We don't hate you."

The roots went back to the ground. They covered Amber's body.

"What was that?" Roni asked.

"Whenever I use the force… I become… dark." Qrow said "I'm sorry."

"We understand. The force is dangerous if you don't control it." Roni said. Qrow took out his flask and took a sip. "But you shouldn't suppress it."

"Are you offering to train me? Think I'm a bit old for your kind." Qrow said. He turned and started to drink.

* * *

 **Month 9 Day 2**

Karel with his legion flew to Pare. They were the first returning legion to this fight. The battle has slowed down, with days at a time with no fighting. The shield stood, but it wasn't going to last much longer.

"I think you should have gone to Roni." Bora said.

"Where going to be here for a while. I'll talk to her after everything's done."

"Good. Don't let this eat you up." Bora smiled.

Karel went to the HQ with Bora. Soleil was switched out for another commander. Everyone was replaced.

After reporting in Karel went to where they stayed last time, but saw the building was in worse shape. He shook his head and turned back.

"Looks like we're going to have to set up farther back this time." Bora said.

"Something doesn't feel right about this." Karel said

* * *

Roni was with Ozpin, and the rest, starting Pyrrha's training. She had only half of the Maiden's power, but she still lots of power she needed to learn to control. Roni found out that her apprentice learned about the maidens before she was meant to. Since she was a knight, she had the right to know, but Roni didn't plan for this to happen so soon. Vuren was brought into the circle, with much hesitancy.

No one liked it, but it was safer to have her near than out there. She was also a good partner for Pyrrha. They sparred, with Pyrrha being hesitant.

"She's doing better with that new outfit." Roni said. "Maybe a bit too fast for Pyrrha."

"She's just learning. She'll be more than ready soon enough." Ozpin said.

"She still hasn't used her new abilities." Goodwitch noted.

"What's holding her back?" Qrow asked.

Vuren landed a kick to Pyrrha's face. She spat up some blood.

"That one hurt." Pyrrha said. Vuren jumped forward, kicking Pyrrha. Before it could connect, Pyrrha grabbed Vuren's foot, then a root shot out, wrapping around her leg. The root brought her down to the ground. All the air in Vuren's lungs came out. Qrow and Roni looked at each other.

Pyrrha looked at Vuren. She held out her hand, and she was being covered by vines. Qrow and Roni were down in the training room in seconds. Qrow stopped Pyrrha, and Roni got out a lightsaber. A lightsaber shot out of the roots. Vuren cut herself out.

Pyrrha shook her head and looked at Vuren.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" She said.

"Don't worry about it. I've dealt with worse." Vuren rubbed something off her arm. "Aloe?"

"Hey, that's a step forward kid. Aloe doesn't grow naturally near here." Qrow said.

"I think… that all I can handle for today."

"Probably. No idea what this does to your body." Qrow said.

Pyrrha left the training grounds with Vuren helping her.

Ozpin sighed when he saw everything.

"She finally started to use her powers. This is the first time since she got it." Ironwood said.

"I can't help but feel…" Ozpin said. He shook his head. "Never mind."

Ironwood looked at Ozpin. He said nothing.

"I will be heading back to Atlus tomorrow. Be careful everyone." Ironwood said

"Are you sure it's safe to travel?" Roni asked

"It's the safest it will be for a while."

"Do you need a Jedi to aid you?"

"I don't think so. We're going to have many airships."

"Good." She said

* * *

The night began to fall in Pare. The Alliance started to settle down for the night. The Empire right outside. Everyone ready for another day of waiting with only a few troops from either side going to fight and dying.

Echo was waiting around for knight. It was the perfect time to finally strike. The 122nd is one of the more elite legions, so fewer troops were around when they arrived. Echo and Jet moved out.

Echo and Jet were able to sneak past most of the people and kill the others. They got to right before the generator and saw that there were half a dozen elite troops standing watch. Echo got two needles ready and Jet got ready. She got two knives. Echo went first. They fell. Jet killed them both

Echo and Jet dashed forward and killed the last two quickly.

Echo got out a needle and jammed it into the generator. He hit the right spot, and it started to malfunction.

He threw a dozen more where they need to be. Soon the machine was jammed up. It was overheating. Echo got out a small explosive, that normally would have done nothing, but now it would destroy it, and start this battle again.

Echo and Jet got away, and Echo pressed the button down. He watched as the shield fell.

The Battle of Pare entered its second phase

 _ **Author's Notes: SO since last time I went through finals, had to travel back home, do Christmas, New year's, and start my job again. So that's why I haven't been able to get this up. Sorry. I hope you guys no me by now. I tried.**_

 _ **Next chapter is a Pare chapter**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	16. Chapter 15: Battle of Pare Part 3

**Chapter 15**

 **Year 0 Month 9 Day 3**

 **The Shield Generator has been destroyed at Pare. The battle is about to heat back up.**

Karel looked at the sky, and saw the shield evaporate.

"That's not good." He said. Bora got her sniper rifle out and flew to the top of a building.

"Do you see anything?" Karel asked. Bora got her weapon ready and looked down the sight.

"Nothing yet. They may not have noticed." Bora hoped. Ruby made it quickly up to where Bora was. Bora nodded at Ruby and went back to looking.

"Ruby. Good, now we can cover more ground than before."

"I got your back." Ruby said. She took out Crescent Rose and waited with Bora

The rest of Team RWBY followed Karel close to the front lines. He got a message from Bora.

"There's a lot of them coming." He knew what he needed to do.

"122nd, This is the time to prove ourselves as warriors! We're outnumbered, out gunned and outmaneuvered, but they haven't won yet. This is your only objective! Hold the city!" Karel yelled. His troops followed him. Team RWBY turned around and saw everyone shouting their war cry. The roar was awe inspiring. Even against all the odds they were still warriors.

"Alright 122nd, send all the snipers into the buildings all around, all different levels. We can't have a random bomb hitting the top kill an entire squad. Now move out." Karel said. Division four left and went into the buildings.

"Now all heavy units, we're going to the front lines. All pilots got back to HQ and find out where the ships are. We're going to need air support!" Division seven moved forward while Division ten went back. "All engineers, scatter and help all out everywhere. You will be very mobile. Scouts, you will accompany the engineers. Assault troops we're going to Mix with the Heavies. Everyone else, separate at equidistant positions. Everyone move out!" Karel shouted.

The 122nd spread out. Team RWBY followed Karel to the front lines.

Ruby called.

"They got tanks moving in. One heavy cannon, two turrets. Got any tank busters?"

"We got the idea. How many?" Karel asked

"About two dozen right now. Each seems to be surrounded by a squad of droids. That's the least of our problem. They're too far away for us to hit them. They're just gathering in one spot. Why?"

"I don't know. Do you see a leader of some kind? Look for a Sith or someone like that. They're bound to be here."

"Do you know what a Sith looks like?"

"Wearing black. Have a red lightsaber. Just look for a lightsaber."

"Alright, I'll try to find someone."

Ruby looked down her scope and looked for her target. She found her target. She recognized the face from somewhere, but she didn't know who it was. She had to think about that face for a moment.

"That's the Emperor." Bora said

"Karel, we've got a problem." Ruby called

"What is it?"

"The Emperor is here."

Karel swore.

"Do you see the Emperor's guard?"

"Do they wear Black armor?"

Karel swore again. He made a call to the HQ to report everything

"Confirmed. Sending for support now."

"We'll try to hold off as many as possible." Karel said. "We've combined with anyone else, but we're still out numbered."

"What's wrong?" Major Pixi asked.

"The Emperor's here."

Major Pixi sighed. "So, this is going to be one of those days. Never an easy day for the 122nd."

"That's very optimistic of you. Shouldn't you be getting to the Ships?"

"Problem is, we've already filled up, and have many more troops. About three dozen fighters, and everyone else went in your ship. We still have squads 118, 119, and 120 without ships."

"Get them to the guns. We're going to need everything." Karel said

"Yes sir." Major Pixi sent out the order.

"And also look out for any ships. Shoot down any enemy ships and notify me when our allies arrive." Karel ordered.

"Of course, Boss. Good luck." Pixi ran off.

Karel went to the edge of the line. He saw the enemy forces gathering, but no one moving yet closer to the city.

He waited for the charge to come, but it didn't.

"Karel, the emperor's talking to that guy who we fought last time." Bora said.

"Really? I would have though he would have moved on."

"Looks like he didn't. I see a few more tanks gathering, but still, why aren't they charging yet?" Bora asked.

* * *

Emperor Sym started to gather his troops together, but they were waiting for the signal. Soule would arrive shortly. Once he and his apprentices arrived, they would create havoc. That's when the Sym's forces would march into the city.

Sym looked at Echo.

"You have been extremely useful. For that I give you credit. And we'll transfer more into your account. Now, I want you to show the power of the Empire to your next target. That will be transferred to you when less ears are around." Sym waved him off. Echo bowed.

"As you wish." Echo left with Jet.

Sym looked at the defenses being made.

"Which division is that?" Sym asked one of his generals.

"I believe that's the 122nd. Led by Commander Karel Allusis." The General said.

"Allusis. Isn't he a Jedi?" He asked, then though about it. "Yes. I remember him. He is a Jedi. He may prove to be a challenge for Soule's new pets."

He turned to his troops. They went silent

"Everyone. Once Lord Soule gets here, we march. When he gets here, the tanks will fire the first volley with the smoke rounds. After we enter the city, our first objective will be to take out all the guns at the top of the buildings. Then we destroy the enemy, and once we take the city, we can finally push forward. This City is halting us from our conquest. We shall not let it stop us!" Sym got the call from Soule.

"We've almost arrived. Get everyone ready. Ten minutes."

"Alright. Your special target this time is the commander of the 122nd legion Jedi Knight Karel Allusis. I believe that your first apprentice ran into him a year ago."

"She did. Got it."

"Then we shall begin. Try not to get killed."

"You should know me by now brother. I don't die easily."

* * *

Soule ended the call. Sno looked at him.

"Master, who are we going after this time?" Sno said, arms folded across her chest.

"Remember the Jedi you met a year ago."

"So, I finally get my chance to put an end to him." Sno said. In the year she had grown greatly in strength. She had received her lightsaber, but she wasn't alone any longer. Soule had a few taken more apprentices. Now she had competition.

Zia walked into the room.

"I heard we're going after the 122nd. I've heard that the second in command is one of my people. It'll be good to see how my people have changed over the past four millennium." Zia put her helmet on.

* * *

Karel saw movement from the tanks. Then they fired the first volley.

"Brace for impact!" He yelled, then when the shells hit the ground, smoke came out. "What?" He asked

Bora called

"They took out our line of sight. Switching to thermal. May take a minute."

"That's alright. Send out the order, then bring Ruby down here. She doesn't have a thermal scope."

Bora looked at Ruby, then she nodded. She jumped off the side of the building. Just as soon as Bora changed the scope, she heard a noise. She looked up and saw a ship above the city. The bay doors opened, and people started to fall to the ground.

"Karel Watch out. Enemy units are coming down fast. They're right above you!" Bora fired at them. They dropped faster than her shot would travel, but one had a jetpack on. They flew to her location. She pulled out her pistols and aimed them at the enemy. They landed on the top of the building. They looked at Bora.

"So, that's what the current armor looks like." She said.

"Who are you?"

"What Clan are you from?"

"I am Bora of clan Lone."

She pulled out a pistol.

"I am Zia, we both Claim to be Mandalorians, but time separates us. Do the houses still stand?"

"Some of them yes, but I left over a decade ago. Much has happened since then."

"Little training. And you still call yourself a Mandalorian?"

"I have the spirit of the wilds, the taste of the hunt, and the blood of my ancestors still in me! Don't think that I don't for a second, or you will suffer." Bora Got a wrist rocket ready.

"Well, let's see how you fight. Then we'll know for sure if you are a Mandalorian or not" Zia pulled her trigger.

Bora rolled to the side, then fired a wrist rocket. Zia dodged it, but wasn't in a good position to fight. Bora shot at it, blowing it up. Zia got hit by the force of the explosion causing her to fall to the roof. Bora threw two shock grenades. Zia got up and jumped down from the roof. She used her Jetpack to give her the power to kick through a landed a few floors below the roof. Bora crashed on the same floor.

Zia looked at Bora and bent her head, cracking it.

"I may have underestimated you. No more."

* * *

Sym ordered the march and air support. He marched with his men into battle. The smoke would make it impossible to see the enemy until they were right on top of them, making this a very bloody battle very quickly, but it had to be done. He would be on the front lines with his troops.

Soule and his group would make things easier, but there would still be tremendous casualties.

Sym felt something was going to happen, then it started. Sniper fire. Emperor Sym ordered his tanks to fire. The shells blasted through the smoke hitting buildings. The smoke was gone too soon for Sym's liking, but he had to deal with it. Everyone was in firing range. They had to cross the bridge. The air strike came, but it was met with alliance fighters. One ship was able to drop the bombs, braking a small whole in the line.

* * *

Karel avoided getting hit by Weiss. She created an Ice shield around her, Yang, Blake, and him. It crumbled. Ruby came up and ignited her lightsaber.

Major Koa called. "Sir, my men are getting destroyed out here. More Sith have arrived."

"Don't fight them. Wait for Back up." Karel said "Ruby, Yang, we've got Sith."

They nodded. Blake and Weiss came next to Yang and Ruby.

"We're going too."

"I'm going to need someone to stay at the front."

"We're not leaving you to take them on by yourselves."

"Fine. We don't have time to argue." Karel called Major Roy

"Roy, you're going to have to take charge of this front lines. I'm going to deal with a problem behind us."

"Alright sir. We'll try to hold them off."

"We need you to buy us time, but don't waste your life."

"Got the message."

Karel started moving towards Koa's position.

"Major Pixi, launch it."

"Alright." Pixi turned to her troops. "Let's fire this up!"

The ship lifted off the ground.

Karel called the HQ

"Do we have anyone else in the city that can help us?"

"Not many. Most of our forces are holding off the western front from the surprise attack. Until reinforcements arrive, we' can't move many people."

"Do we have any Grey Jedi in the City. We have multiple Sith that are attacking and I'm the only knight. I'm going to need assistance."

"There are a few. I think we can spare two."

"Then send them to my front lines. The Emperor's coming."

The person on the other end swore.

"We're sending them right away."

"Also do you have any idea when our reinforcements will be coming?"

"No idea."

"Alright. Inform me of any changes."

"Yes commander."

Karel finished his walk. Soule had his lightsaber in one of his men. He turned to Karel.

* * *

"I see you finally decided to arrive Jedi. Remember my Apprentice?"

Sno came out. Weiss glared at her. Sno smiled back at her.

"Yes, I remember her trying to kill my friends. That made me mad." Karel said

"Don't think you're getting an apology." Sno said

"Well, now, I've got a few more." Soule snapped his fingers, and seven other people came. They were all at least as old as Karel.

"So, you're going to fight us nine to five."

"I won't fight until I need to. You're going to be a good test for my apprentices." Soule said.

Two Grey Jedi jumped over the Sith and ran past Karel.

"They're going to hold off the Emperor for as long as they can." Karel said

"Fine by me."

"Now master, It's hardly fair, nine fighting three, with two handicaps." Sno said. She smirked at Weiss.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Karel said.

"Are you going to stop me?"

"If you didn't stop me from fighting you, I would have easily killed you." Karel said.

"You want to test that theory?"

"Enough Sno. You can't beat him. Not Yet. Jaden, attack."

One of the Sith Apprentices nodded then rushed forward. Karel dodged the attack, then took out his lightsaber. Jaden tried to attack again, but he was slow and inexperienced. Karel side stepped it and slashed him across the back. Jaden fell to the ground.

"Why waste a life like that?" Karel asked.

"Simple. He was weak. He would never have survived to become a Sith Lord. And it's taking your precious time."

* * *

Bora was fighting with everything she had. She liked it. She had used up all her wrist rockets, all her grenades, and most of her other munitions. Zia was an experienced hunter, and a great warrior. She had forgotten what it was like to fight another Mandalorian.

"I have to admit, you're not that bad." Bora said.

"Are the rest of our people still warriors like us?"

"Mostly no. Pacifists. Or at least when I left."

"That's disgusting. How could we have abandoned our traditions like that?"

"To be fair, Mandalore is a wasteland with only a few domes being livable."

"How far we've fallen." Zia said. Bora couldn't see her.

"I think I remember you now." Bora said, changing the Magazine.

"I don't remember meeting before now."

"We didn't. I saw you. You killed a Grey Jedi. That was the same day you got the White Fang on your side."

"Where were you hiding?"

"Outside the city. Lucky, we didn't have Master Roni with us, or you probably wouldn't have made it."

"We make our own luck." Zia popped out and punched Bora, splitting her lip.

"That we do." Bora grabbed a vial of fire dust and threw it at Zia. It broke on her armor. Bora jumped out a window and flew away. She saw the fighting everywhere. She scanned for Karel and found him. She started to fly to her. Zia was stunned for a few seconds, but she wasn't out yet. She followed Bora.

* * *

Sym was making his way through the front lines, but it was slow work, and costly. Since the Cruiser joined the battle, it has been able to get a few shots down, destroying a few tanks. The snipers have been slowly defeated. The Grey Jedi tried, but they couldn't stand up against the might of the Emperor. Or even get to him. His guards took care of them.

"We need to get a stronghold in the city!" Sym said

He went in a building to make a call.

"Love, how's it going on your end?"

"Swimmingly." Empress Vox said. She was leading a surprise attack on the other end of the city, with great success.

The empire had a two-pronged attack. They attacked from both sides and planned to meet in the middle.

"Good to see that You're not in as much trouble as I am"

"What's the matter Dear?" Vox said, as she impaled an Alliance troop.

"The ship in the sky isn't very kind to us, and we have no air support. We're getting bogged down here."

"We're moving closer to the enemy HQ as we speak. Of course, they started to put up more resistance than before. We're running into a few problems ourselves."

"We'll meet up again soon. I think this building's getting to be a little unstable."

"Don't try anything stupid. We have a nation to run."

"I know, and that's why One of us should head back."

"I've taken more ground."

"Yes, so I have to catch up to you."

"Fine. I'll retreat. But if we lose this ground, I'm not going to be happy."

"I doubt we would want that area. I's against what we have."

"True enough."

Sym ended his call. He left the building, and shortly after it came crashing down.

Vox got her troops and ordered them to retreat. She sent half of her troops to boost her Husband, and the other half would go back to Mistral.

Right after Vox left, Six Alliance ships came into view.

* * *

Karel had taken down another two apprentices alone.

"You are good. Now, we're going to test your friends." Soule said.

Karel put up his lightsaber, but Soule moved to block it. He grabbed Karel and tossed him behind. Karel rolled with the ground, and as a lightsaber was about to come down on him, he used his shield made of dust to block it.

The Gauntlet he wore was useful indeed.

Soule looked at it with a smile.

"I like that. Where can I get one?" Soule asked.

"It's not for sale."

"Well then, maybe I can take it off your corpse."

He sent Karel flying.

Ruby was fighting two Sith Apprentices, and she was doing well. Roni has trained he well. But not this well. Something was off about her, but she liked it. It was also making the enemies sloppy. She was able to quickly put and end to one, but the other one was more stubborn.

Ruby was able to switch between Crescent rose and her lightsaber in less than a second, which would confuse her enemy, but here, she used it to get hits in that she wouldn't be able to normally. She was getting very good at this style, and her opponent was finding that out.

Yang was able to more than hold her own. She was holding off the rest of the Apprentices besides Sno. She was getting taught by Arin Jones, but this was better than she would normally be able to do. She was wondering what was happening.

Bora landed by Karel and pointed her pistol at Soule's head.

Zia came up behind her.

"She's a worthy opponent." Zia said

"Stop, you're going to make me blush." Bora said.

"Though if you pull that trigger, you won't make it." Zia said

"And if he attacks my Fiancé again, he won't make it either."

"A Jedi and a Mandalorian. I've seen everything now." Soule said.

"Have you seen six Alliance ships dropping troops off right above your head?" Karel asked.

Troop transport ships exited the ships. Snub fighters came out and backed up the few still in the sky. Tanks and everything was coming out of the ship.

"You seem to think that I fear a few more troops."

"Maybe you don't, but maybe, just maybe, you fear my troops. My troops are still around here. My elite squad follows me everywhere. They are my Havoc squad. With a little practice and time, they'll be just as skilled too. You are also surrounded by my troops. Now, you have a chance to kill me. You may even do it, but your wife would die, your apprentices would die…"

Five Jedi drop by Karel.

Master Roni, Vuren, Arin Jones, Akio Jin, and Mizuki Muto dropped. They all took out their lightsabers.

"But I think I would say that if you continue to fight. You're going to lose this battle. We're beating you're forces back. We may push them out of Pare. This is your last warning, leave." Karel said

"We haven't lost yet. Have you any idea how many of your men have died today?"

Karel raised his hand. Dozens of guns came out of buildings.

"Not enough to stop us."

"Fine. You haven't beaten me, just outmaneuvered." Soule looked at his remaining apprentices. "Let's go" They left quickly.

* * *

Arin turned to Yang.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

He turned to Karel.

"You didn't ask me if my Apprentice could come with you."

"I must have forgotten. Sorry."

Arin shook his head.

"You forgot? Are you kidding me?" He sighed.

"Commander Allusis." Roni said

"Are troops moving to where mine are?"

"Yes. Though we have no idea who's still alive."

"We have to save everyone we can. Everyone, move up."

Everyone except Roni and Karel moved up.

* * *

They stood their silent for a moment.

"Did you even trust me?"

"Of course, I did, but how could I have explained this to you?"

"You could have told me. I've been on this planet a lot longer than you have. I've been doing all of this for so long." Karel said

"Could you have handled it?"

Karel stood there silent.

"I don't know. I'm sorry about how I was acting."

"It's alright." Roni smiled "I'm still proud of you. And I know your master would be too."

Karel doesn't say anything.

"Let's get going."

Karel and Roni started to move to the front lines. They passed by many new troops.

"Who's using battle meditation?"

"The Grandmaster."

"She's here?"

"Yeah."

"Then we may just win this yet."

Karel got a call from the HQ

"We have confirmed reports of multiple enemy ships arriving. Five."

"I spoke too soon."

"What is it now?"

"Enemy reinforcements have arrived." Karel sighed

"Then we start this all again." Roni said. "Let's just hope Salem doesn't decide to show up here. Or bring any unwanted guests"

"Why does she have a stake in this war?"

"I don't know. But she does." A mortar round was flying over their heads. Karel stopped it and moved it into a damaged building.

"We're going to have to be careful. Remember, we don't have auras."

"I remember."

* * *

Salem watched as the battle was going on. She was very amused by it.

"This right here shows us the truth about mankind. They are a violent race. They always fight each other, kill each other, steal from each other, hate each other. They are a despicable race. That's why we are going to end them. But first, we need troops. That is your mission. I will send a distraction while you gather our new troops."

She turned to her followers.

"Avoid the Jedi for now. Get those Sith acolytes. I can use them." Salem said

"Should we bring Ulric?" Cinder asked

"Yes."

"Let's have that child see him for a second. Make her lose focus."

"If you can."

Cinder smiled.

All of Salem's inner circle stood up and went in portals to Pare.

Salem used her magic to send an army of Grimm to the battleground. She wanted to destroy as many as possible and gather an army. Another thought came to her mind. She summoned two Ancient warriors.

"Caled, Baron, My warriors and spies. I have a mission for you."

Caled was an ancient Sith Lord. He was killed by Salem over two thousand years ago. He wore an Assassin's outfit, covered in black. He wore a Grimm mask.

Baron was a Jedi Knight. He was a Jedi Shadow, and tried to kill Salem, but failed. His clothes were changed, infected. His eyes were black.

Caled and Baron kneeled at Salem's feet.

"We will do everything you ask us our Lady." Caled said

"What is our mission?" Baron asked.

"The two of you will go to the droid factories of the Remnant Alliance and the Empire at Pare. You will find a way to turn the droids on the humans, then you will return here with the codes. Once we are ready to reveal ourselves, we will show our full force."

Salem opened two portals.

"Now go"

They got up and left. Salem returned to the orb to watch the battle. Her plans would have to wait until she had the relics, but to do that, they would have to find the current holder of half the power and kill her.

"But to do that, I'll need to have my own army, and I know exactly what I shall call them."

 _ **Author's Notes: Pare isn't done yet. Neither is the War. Salem is going to do many more things before the end.**_

 _ **Remember, you can still send me OCs and they will be put in the story.**_

 _ **I hope you review and share this story. I want it to get out to as many people as possible. This story is important to me. It's made me better at writing and storytelling.**_

 _ **May the Force Be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	17. Chapter 16: Battle of Pare part 4

**Chapter 16**

 **Year 0 Month 9 Day 3**

 **The battle at Pare was in full swing. The Empire slowly taking ground from the Alliance. The Battle has been costly for both sides.**

Cinder exited the portal in one of the buildings in Pare. It looked unsafe to be in. She looked around and saw a few dead alliance troops. She started to gather Salem's forces. She started to raise the troops from the dead, sending them back to Salem's realm.

She was doing this when Ulric came. He looked out the window to look at the battle.

"I always hated fighting." He said

"I know. But you were a Jedi. You don't have to opportunity to be a pacifist. Now you work for Salem. Once we get the relics, we won't have to fight anymore."

"Won't the gods destroy us?"

"Not in Salem's realm." Cinder raised one troops, and gave him all the weapons, then sent him away.

"Did Salem tell you that?"

"Yes."

"Do you trust her?" Ulric saw Yang charging into battle.

"My lips are closed."

"Fine. It's weird watching her now. My last apprentice."

"Yang Xiao Long?" Cinder went to the window to see Yang fighting. She felt a little bit of anger, but she couldn't let herself expose herself so easily.

"She's got no skill with that. She may as well be waving it around." Cinder said. Mostly truthful, but she did let herself fall a little into jealousy.

"I could have trained her better, but someone decided to kill me before I could." He said looking at Cinder.

Cinder grabbed his face. "You see, because I did that, we can be together again." Cinder kissed him.

"She has my lightsaber." Ulric said.

"Do you want it back?" Cinder would take any excuse to kill Yang.

"No. She needs something to hold onto. When the time comes, I think she's going to kill me once and for all." He said

"You think too highly of her." Cinder said with venom and jealousy in her voice.

"You're jealous of someone who can't even buy a drink. I thought I taught you better." Ulric said with a smile on his face.

"You always were insufferable sometimes." Cinder says.

Ulric let his smile fade. He kept watching Yang. She turned her head to the building, and she stopped for a second. Ulric took a step back.

"She saw me."

"That's what we wanted." Cinder opened another portal, and shoved Ulric in it, then went in it herself, closing it behind her. Yang and Arin went up to the floor.

"See Yang, you were just seeing things."

Yang shook her hand. "Yeah, Yeah. But I could have sworn…"

She looked around the room. Blood was everywhere, but there were no bodies.

"Arin, doesn't this look a little strange?"

"What does?"

"There's lots of blood, but no bodies."

Arin looked at it, but then he looked up, quickly grabbed Yang, and jumped out a window before the rest of the building collapsed.

Dust covered the battlefield. Yang and Arin were holding their breaths to not get the dust in them. They quickly went in another building before letting out their breath.

"I think we're going to need more than just the force to help us here." Arin said.

* * *

Yang sent out a call for aid. A few moments later two engineers entered the building.

"Masks and goggles?" The first one asked

"Yes."

The second one got out two pairs.

"Most of us are handing these out. No sector has been safe from buildings collapsing."

"It's that bad?"

"We've lost the front lines." The second said

* * *

Karel called Major Roy

"Roy, are you still alive?"

Roy took cover and reloaded.

"Despite your best efforts. I don't know about Koa. His men had a meeting with the Emperor's guard."

"Why did the snipers fight them?"

"Can't tell you boss. I'd say that most of them are dead. My men aren't looking to hot either."

"Move back. Those front lines are going to be lost any minute now."

"I'll order to retreat to the second zone boss but Can't tell you how many of us aren't going to make it."

"We just got reinforcements."

"Not up here." Roy threw his last grenade. He took out two imperials.

"The Emperor's been ripping through us." Roy said. He got up and started to leave. He ordered to retreat, and the few who were still alive started to retreat. The empire didn't let up. Some stayed behind for a final stand.

"We're moving Boss."

"Thanks."

* * *

Karel ended the call. He called Major Koa.

Koa answered, coughing up blood. He killed one of the Emperor's guards.

"Koa, are you still alive?"

"Barely." Koa took out a cigarette and lit it. Emperor Sym came up the stairs.

"Sorry boss, I'm not going to make it."

"Don't say that! I order you to get back to me."

"I don't think I'm going to be able to do that. The Emperor just got here."

Karel heard a pistol fire until it was out of bullets. He heard the buzzing of a lightsaber, and he heard the familiar sound of lightsaber cutting through flesh.

Sym picked up the scroll.

"This is Emperor Sym. This man is dead. You shall meet his fate."

"Sith Scum!" Karel shouted. The call cut off. Karel sent out an announcement that Major Koa was KIA.

* * *

Major Pixi read the message, then ordered the building he was stationed in to be destroyed.

"But Ma'am…" One of his troops started.

"Whoever killed him is still in that building."

"But the body…"

"We'll have his memory, but if his killer escapes…"

"Pixi, I've heard everything. Don't fire at it. We still have troops near that building. Don't fire at it!" Karel ordered.

Pixi swore "Fine, have it your way." She turned to her gunners. "Cancel my last order!"

Pixi looked at the scanners, and saw another enemy ship coming. It sent out dozens of fighters. Pixi looked at how many snub fighters she still had. She didn't have enough to match them. She then calculated how much gas they would have had left. It wasn't much.

"Call our fighters back!" Pixi ordered.

Pixi looked back to the scanner and saw a large group of new hostiles.

"What's that?" She asked.

One of her troops called back "That's a large group of Grimm." Pixi swore again

* * *

Master Roni helping get the troops safely behind the second zone of the city. The new troops were pushing the imperials back for a bit, but it ended in a standstill.

"We're holding them off at 15th and Baker. Everything past that is lost." One of the Captains said.

Roni looked at the map she had of the city.

"I don't feel comfortable with them getting so close." She said. Another captain ran up to her.

"Commander, Grimm have arrived in massive numbers."

"That's just great. Are they attacking?"

"Both sides."

Roni looked out.

"No, we can't use them to our benefit, unless… Get me droids. The Grimm don't attack the droids as much. Maybe they can be used."

"We'll call them in. We have no idea if it will work though."

"We have to try something." Roni said.

"Alright."

* * *

Sym left the building and saw the Grimm hoard coming.

"Keep moving men! Don't let up!" Sym ordered all ships to land. He knew what the Grimm could do to ships. The Alliance didn't set the ships down right away, but one after another they landed too. Now it was all about the ground battle. The tanks that left the ship were ordered to fire at the Grimm first.

Soon the large hoard were over them, darkening the sky.

"We won't be destroyed by these things! Kill them!" Sym said. He gathered energy waiting for them to lower.

* * *

All the Grimm were flying Grimm, swooping down. Ruby was with Roni and they were having to fight off the Grimm.

Ruby killed her fair share but was getting surrounded. She put her lightsaber away and got out Crescent Rose. She was ready for the fight. She used her speed to her advantage. She got on the back of one as it started to raise off the ground. Ruby quickly killed the Grimm she was on and jumped to another one by her. She got a dozen like this, until she found one tougher than the rest.

She had jumped on it's back, sticking Crescent Rose in it, thinking she killed it, but she didn't, so when she went to jump to the next one, she was saved by her weapon. She turned quickly then got her lightsaber out. She jammed it in the Grimm's neck. It screamed, and started to fall, but it wasn't dead. It wanted to take Ruby with it. Ruby used the force to turn it on its stomach, and to shield her for the impact. When it fell it started to fade. Roni looked at her.

"Please don't do that again." She said.

"Get Down!" Roni told Ruby. She did, then Roni jumped over Ruby, taking her lightsaber out while spinning and landing it in the head of another Grimm.

"These things are everywhere." Roni said.

"Thanks master."

"No problem. We should get inside." She said

"But we can take them on."

"We can't see the Sun anymore. They blocked it out."

Ruby looked at the hoard.

"Why aren't they all attacking?"

* * *

Watts converted more of the dead to Salem's army. Unlike Cinder, he didn't have to kiss them to get the poison in them. His bullets were coated with the poison, and he had multiple vials of it just in case. A portal opened behind him. Lavi came out of it.

"Hello doctor." She said

"Why are you here?"

"Salem wants me to be here. She said I could help you."

"I highly doubt that, unless you know how to transform them."

Lavi laughed.

"No, I was an Imperial Remember. I just need to kill one of them and take on their Identity for a few minutes. Our Lady said you would find a purpose for me."

"I think people would recognize one of the Recon Zero members, who's meant to be dead." Watts said. He converted more troops.

"If you want to help, kill imperials then administer this to them." Watts handed her two vials of the poison.

"Oh, you're giving me the good stuff." She said

"Go and do your mission."

"Fine, you were never any fun." Lavi left.

Watts didn't say anything then took deep breath when Lavi left. He shook his head "Where does she find these people?"

Yang looked up and saw the Grimm in the sky.

* * *

"I don't think we should go out right now." Yang said

"Why?"

"It's dangerous."

"How bad is it?"

"I don't know if we have enough bullets." Yang said

"It can't be that bad." Arin walked out, and four Grimm came for him. He went back in the building.

"I wonder how many of them there are. Must be thousands. Or millions." Arin said

* * *

The Tanks started to fire at the Grimm, but it didn't help a lot. The Grimm started to dive towards the tanks. The Tanks never won.

Many of the people had to hide in the buildings. Only the droids were out, and they still weren't safe. The Grimm caused the Battle to stop.

No one was watching out for Salem's forces. Ulric was following Cinder. They used the Grimm to tell them were people were by watching how many were around one building. Cinder walked into one of the buildings and found Alliance troops huddling together checking how much ammo they have left.

They turn and see her and Ulric.

"Who are you?" One of them asked.

"I'm sorry." Ulric said. They took out their black lightsabers and started to cut everyone down. Ulric turned off his lightsaber and looked at the bodies.

"I hate this." Ulric said

"You don't have a choice. You follow me now. So, you may as well stop complaining." Cinder said as she started to convert the troops. Ulric wanted to have no part of this.

"When did you meet Salem?"

"I don't remember. She had her eyes on me for a while during out time together. It was Watts who found me. He told me about the collapse of the Jedi here."

"So, that's why you were asking me about it. I'm guessing he gave you what you needed."

"Yes, he laid a crumb trail for me to follow. Then I followed it. I guess you know where that lead."

"You forced my hand."

"Yes, I did. And you killed me, but I don't care about that. You made me like this." Cinder said. She put her hand on Ulric's face.

"Now we have to go up and get more people."

They went up the stairs and murdered every living thing in the building.

* * *

Salem watched as her army of the dead came flooding in. Soon she would show the world her power. But for now, she would suffice to take the droid factories. She gathered some of the troops and sent them to both factories.

She watched the battle.

"If only I could be out there. I would destroy them all." Salem looked out the window. More Grimm were being created. She was gaining more power.

She still felt empty. Nothing could ever make her feel anything but melancholy.

"Curse you Ozpin." She hated him. She realized long ago that they would always be around. If one existed, the other would as well.

Salem still had her magic, but it wasn't strong enough to get out of her realm.

Long ago, Salem could freely walk between the realms of light and dark. But Ozpin stopped that. Like before when they first met, Ozpin came into her realm. He cast a large spell that must have used most of his magic and made it impossible for her to Leave. Salem then killed Ozpin. But she soon found that she was trapped. Half way to death, but people could still enter the realm.

She knew that if she wasn't careful, her body would be destroyed, and her spirit would be trapped in her realm forever without anyone being able to come in.

She would need to scream but have no mouth. She would be trapped in her own purgatory, her own hell.

She shook her head. "I can't think about that now."

But the though didn't leave her mind. It horrified her that something like that could happen.

She wouldn't let it happen. She needed to stop it.

But to stop it she needed her army, and an army needs a General.

Salem turned around and raised her hand. A dark puddle opened, and her General raised out of the ground.

"I am yours my lady."

"Adam Taurus, Raise up."

* * *

Adam remembered the pain of the lightsaber in his chest. He cursed himself. He let Blake distract him. Now he was paying for it. He held out his hand and heard a voice.

"I still have need of you." Adam didn't know who it was. He fell to the ground, bleeding. He felt something on his neck. Then he faded.

"It's cold" Adam thought. He opened his eyes, and he was covered by a darkness. It surrounded him and infused itself with him. The wound in his chest was healing. He felt the last of his blood leaving him. In its place was a black fluid.

"You are now mine." Adam heard the voice.

"Who are you?"

"I am the one who is keeping you alive. I am the one who will give you your revenge."

"You will let me destroy the humans?"

"Yes, and your other enemy." The floor started to shake. The image of Blake came up. A sword appeared in his hand. The fury blew up. He shoved his sword in her chest.

"If I will be able to do that for real, I will do everything." Adam said

Salem appeared behind Adam.

"You have a purpose. But you will wait."

The next thing Adam remembered was this very moment.

"You will lead my troops. You are missing a glorious war right now."

"I have only one war I want to wage.

* * *

" Adam said

"Against the humans, I know, and you shall have that war." Salem said. "But you will be the face of my army. You will arrive at Beacon to eliminate Ozpin."

"But that's going to be heavily guarded."

"Not anymore. At Pare there is a large battle raging out between the Empire and the Alliance. I have sent my Grimm to pin them down. My forces will turn the droids against their living masters. You will then kill Ozpin, an announce ourselves to the world."

"I will do as you say." Adam said

"Good."

Caled got into the droid factory. With the battle going on outside, the defense was minimal. Caled was able to easily destroy any opposition. He reached his destination and quickly got the codes for the Alliance droids. He waited for the order.

Baron called him

"I have the codes. Do you?"

"Yes."

"Then you shall both turn the droids to our side." Salem said.

"Of course, our lady." Caled said.

* * *

Karel sat in one of the buildings. Four droids came by sending orders from Roni and handing him water. Karel took it and thanked the droids. Bora came down from the floor above with one of their troops.

Karel ordered the droids to keep moving, but they ignored it.

"Did you hear me?" Karel asked.

They raised their guns. Karel quickly cut them down.

"That's not good." Karel said. "The droids have turned against us."

The troop went to the window. He saw droids going into the buildings.

* * *

Ruby and Roni waited for a few droids to come back, but they had a bad feeling about this. Two droids entered and fired at them. Ruby and Roni dodged the attack. Roni threw her lightsaber destroying the droids. She caught her lightsaber.

"What do you think this is all about?"

"I don't know why. How could this happen?"

Karel called.

"Master, the droids…"

"I know. But what I don't know is how it's happening."

Karel didn't say anything.

"Does it seem lighter outside?"

Roni looked outside. She opened the door and looked at the sky. The Grimm almost completely left. Only a few stayed behind.

"We're no longer stuck indoors, but we've got a bigger problem. More than half of our forces here are droids. This isn't looking good for us."

"Then we may have to make a temporary alliance."

"Maybe… but how likely are they to help us?"

"If they're like us, then likely. The Emperor's here."

"I don't like this."

"Neither do I."

* * *

Blake and Weiss met up with two of the Jedi who arrived. Akio and Mizuki.

"Looks like we're safe here. For now." Akio said.

Mizuki closed her scroll.

"Bad news, the droids have turned on us."

"What?" Akio said

"That's all I heard."

Blake sighed. "We've gone from stuck to stuck. What a leap"

"We don't know how many Grimm are left" Weiss said

"Well, I can tell you one thing for sure, the sun's gotten a lot brighter." Akio said.

Mizuki peeked her head outside and saw two squads of droids walking about. They saw her, then started running towards them.

She pulled her head back in. "We're going to have to fight our way out of here. We should meet up with the rest of the Jedi."

"Where's that?" Blake asked.

"That's a good question. I would say I have no idea." Akio said.

"So, we have to run for it?" Weiss asked.

"Yes." Mizuki said. She pulled out her lightsaber and charged towards the droids.

Akio looked at Blake and Weiss

"Follow me if you will." Akio went out next, turning on his lightsaber. Akio and Mizuki cut down all of them before moving on.

Weiss called Karel

"Where are you?"

"I don't know. I think we're on 24th street, but maybe not. We may have moved back soon, or we may have to…"

"Yes?"

"We may have to team up with the Empire."

"You think we're going to be able to?" Weiss asked

"I don't have high hopes, but if they're fighting the same enemy we are, then maybe. It's better to live then to die in a ball of fire." Karel said

"We're about to meet up with you I think."

* * *

Weiss ended the call. Karel got out a few water bottles out from his bag and started to pass them around. Mizuki opened the door.

"Karel, good." Mizuki said. Karel tossed her a water bottle. "Thanks." Akio, Blake, and Weiss came in. Karel gave them water, then they started to talk.

"So, what do we have?" Akio asked.

"Well, we're planning on meeting up with Master Roni and Ruby before trying to contact the empire. We're going to need their help if we're going to survive this." Karel said

"That's insane!" Akio yelled.

"You got a better idea? I'm ready to hear it. Or would you have us fight against three enemies?" Bora said.

"I don't like this." Mizuki said.

"Neither do I. And we still don't know where Vuren, Yang, or Arin are. We've got no contact from them." Karel said

"So we need to find them then. Why don't we just split up. We've got more than enough people to do it." Blake said.

"That is the problem. We're not splitting up." Karel said

"But we can't just leave them out there." Weiss said

"Who said we were?" Bora said

"But…" Weiss started.

"I can be tracked easily. The gauntlet in my arm has that feature. So I will go looking for them once we meet up with Roni. Someone's going to come with me, but we haven't decided who."

"What about Bora?" Akio asked

"No, she's going to have gather our troops together."

"So well decide when we get there?" Mizuki asked.

"Yes"

The group moved to where Roni was. She had sent out a beacon. It drew droids to the spot, but they were easy to beat back. It was one of the few defended positions in the city. Even the Grandmaster was there. The HQ was moved to this position.

Karel went up to Roni.

"We've got a few of us here." Karel said the group walked in the HQ. Ruby Yelled and ran to Weiss and Blake. She hugged them both.

"Have you seen Yang?" She asked.

Blake shook her head.

"I see." Ruby said defeated.

The Grandmaster went up to Roni and Karel.

"I have to leave. Something's going to happen at Beacon. They'll need me."

"How are you going to leave here?"

"I have a ship." She said. She bowed and left.

"That means we're down Jedi." Karel said. "Oh, yeah that reminds me, has Pyrrha started her training?"

"Yes. Vuren has been helping her."

"Good. Maybe we could have her help us soon. We need something to get us out of here."

"First we need to survive, then you can think about making plans of getting out of here."

"I'm going to a beach after this."

Roni laughed.

"If we get out of here, we'll all go."

"You hear that Bora, when we get out of here, we heading to the beach."

Bora gave a thumbs up.

"So now onto business, who's going with you to get everyone?"

Karel turned around. He saw everyone who could go with him, but he knew who he needed.

He went up to Weiss.

"White, will you come with me?"

"Of course, Blue."

"Then let's go."

Karel and Weiss left the HQ going to where Yang and Arin were last seen.

* * *

Ozpin watched Pyrrha as she trained. She was getting better, but still needed practice. It was a good thing they were safe in Vale.

"Ozpin, I sense something's going to happen." The grandmaster called Ozpin.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'm coming back now."

"Alright."

Ozpin turned to Pyrrha.

"Miss Nikos, we need to end this session now. Get with your team."

"Is something wrong?"

"I believe so. Now get ready to fight."

"Is it the Empire?"

"I don't know, but we have to be ready for everything."

Ozpin and Pyrrha left the training area. Ozpin found Goodwitch.

"Get everyone ready for a fight. I don't know from where, but we have a fight coming soon."

"Alright." Goodwitch went to gather the staff together. It wasn't fast enough.

Ozpin was getting reports and calls from everywhere about an army marching down the streets of Vale. It just appeared. Ozpin knew what it was and where it came from immediately. This was Salem's Army. And he knew where she was getting the troops from too. He was disgusted.

Goodwitch and the other teachers came up to him.

"Professor Ozpin, what are we going to do?"

"We have to fight. Get the students ready. This will be another fight for their lives." Ozpin said

Empress Vox landed in Mistral. She had started go over things about the war, she got a report.

Thousands of Grimm were coming towards Mistral, and spreading all over the empire. She made sure her child was safe, then went to defend her city. She called upon her citizens to help destroy the Grimm at all costs.

Vox started to fight the Large Grimm. This was her first run in with them, but since she had seen them before with Recon Zero, she had an idea how to defeat this enemy.

Salem watched over as her forces destroyed her enemies. She smiled and thought it was good.

 _ **Author's notes: I hope everyone enjoys this story.**_

 _ **I've recently been kept up with a few things, Kingdom Hearts 3 is one of them.**_

 _ **I have a few more ideas up my sleeve. But don't think We're close to being done.**_

 _ **May the Force Be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	18. Chapter 17: Battle of Pare part 5

**Chapter 17**

 **Year 0 Month 9 Day 3**

 **Salem has launched a three way attack on the cities of Pare, Mistral, and Vale.**

Karel and Weiss went looking for Yang and Arin. They had to go deep into the battlefield where their droids had turned against them.

"Blue, do we even know where they are?"

"Not really, but we can't leave them to die out there." Karel said. He then grabbed Weiss and jumped to the side. A bullet hit the ground where they were a second ago.

"Looks like we're not too welcome here." Weiss said "But was it a droid or an imperial?" She added

"Does it matter?" Karel asked.

"I guess not. So how are we going to take care of our friend?"

"I got an idea." Karel said. Karel took out dust.

He fired ice dust in the middle of the street, then fired fire dust at the ice. Weiss got to the other side of the street. The shooter didn't see her getting closer. She dashed up the stairs seeing a droid firing. She quickly destroyed the droid.

"How's it looking White?" Karel asked

"It's good Blue, come on up." Weiss yelled back.

Karel went to Weiss.

"Hey." Karel said

"Hey."

"How good are you at jumping across rooftops?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because we may have to do just that." Karel looked at his scroll" to avoid anyone from shooting us."

"I can handle myself."

"Good. Let's go then."

* * *

Adam walked down the streets of Vale for the first time since his death. He walked to where he was killed and spat on the spot.

"I was weak." The event replayed in his head

Two alliance soldiers started to open fire at him. He pulled out his weapon and absorbed the shots. It started to glow red. He charged at them, but vanished before attacking them.

"What was that?" One of them asked.

"An after image." Adam said, as he killed both of them with one strike.

Adam looked at both of them then spat on their bodies. "Filth."

Adam went to the building where he saw Blake for the last time. "I was distracted. I won't make that mistake again." His mind was filled with an image.

"This is the girl who inhabits half of the fall maiden power. Bring her to me, or kill her." Salem said

"What about Ozpin and the Jedi."

"Trust me, and lead your forces there."

"What about Beacon?"

"I have that dealt with."

"Fine."

* * *

Meg was defending the Temple. There was only one master left at the Temple. He was leading the defense force.

"We have to hold the city till reinforcement from Vacuo." He cried out.

Two of the strange invaders came started to open fire. She blocked them then jumped over the wall the temple guard had made. She used her semblance to slow her opponents took out her black lightsaber. She turned it on and out came a purple blade. She got behind them, and made two quick slashes.

She stopped her semblance, and they both fell to the ground. A black dust came out of them, and their clothes changed color.

"What?" Meg asked.

"I don't know what this is." The master though. "I think you should go to Ozpin."

"But…"

"No, go."

Meg left for Beacon.

As she was running down the road she ran into some of the Red fang troops that were stationed in Vale. Ilia was leading them.

"Keep this line!"

Meg stopped behind her.

"What's going on here?"

"We've got this area held down, but we're facing heavy resistance. Do you know what they are Jedi?"

"No. But I fear they aren't Imperials."

Adam gathered his troops and moved up to the next defensive line.

Meg and Ilia turned. Ilia gasped.

"Adam… but he's dead."

"What?"

"That's Adam Taurus. He led a part of the white fang. He died here two years ago."

"That's not possible, he's right here."

Adam looked at the defense force. Faunus. And humans.

"Traitors! How could you work with the human filth! They who murdered us!"

Meg and Ilia got ready for the fight.

"There is only one fate for turncoats. Death!" Adam ran forward with his army. He was shot at, but he absorbed the shots. Meg jumped over the red fang and got ready to fight Adam. She tried to end it quickly. She made four quick slashes. The first one would have destroyed the sword, then the next three would be hitting vital organs.

Adam blocked every hit.

Meg turned around and looked on in shock.

"How?"

"It's a metal called cortosis. I hear it's able to block lightsabers. Let's test this out." Adam said. He used all the gathered energy from the bullets, and launched his attack on Meg. She braced for impact. She blocked in quick succession multiple hits, but not all of them. She got a large cut on her cheek. Blood started to flow down her face.

Adam laughed. "This is all the high and mighty Jedi can muster. No wonder you went extinct."

Ilia finished one of her opponents when she saw the jedi in need of help. She extended her weapon at Adam. He dodged it, and grabbed the end. Ilia sent electricity down. Adam put his sword in front of his hand. It absorbed the electricity.

"Thank you." Adam pulled on the whip, pulling Ilia close to Adam.

"Do I know you?" Adam asked.

"How are you alive?"

"…Oh, now I remember you. You're the one who loves Blake, aren't you. Well. I died because of her. So I want to show her what it's like. But I'll settle for you for now."

Adam raised his sword. As he was about to thrust it down he was hit by a force blast.

As Meg got up she spun around taking out three of Salem's troops. She blocked shots from Salem's troops, trying to get to Ilia's side to help her.

Four red fang troops went to Ilia's side.

Adam looked at them. "I see you want to die, but you have this one chance to do what's right and fight the human scum."

They raised their weapons.

"I see… I apologize for what's about to happen."

Adam raised his hand. All of his troops aimed. He signaled for them to fire. Meg pushed Ilia away, but the other four dropped dead. Meg charged Adam. He blocked the hit.

"You on the other hand, won't get the same opportunity."

* * *

Karel jumped across one rooftop to another. Weiss was behind him, but she wasn't keeping up.

Karel stopped. He waited for Weiss to catch up. He pulled up the map again. He sent out the signal and saw the Base. At the very edge he saw two dots.

"I think we just got in range to find them." Karel got out a paper map and a red marker. He circled where the base was, then he circled where the two dots were.

"Are we going to split up?"

"No, too dangerous." Karel patted his shirt, then pulled out a pistol. He handed it to Weiss.

"I didn't know you used guns." Weiss said

"Normally no, but when I have to…" Karel started. He looked up and pulled out his lightsaber. Weiss stopped to listen.

"My master doesn't want me to do this."

Sno jumped out, lightsaber in hand. Karel blocked her attack.

"This isn't going to end well for you. Just leave it alone."

"You humiliated me! I won't stand for that!"

Karel blocked the attacks and analyzed what style Sno was using. It was a basic form IV. He smirked.

"What's that about?"

"You're using that form against me? I use three forms, and that's one of them. I know its weakness, and strengths. You can't win."

"Shut up!" She sent force lightning out at Karel. He put up his lightsaber to deflect it.

"This is your last warning. Leave."

"I will kill you some day. But…" Sno jumped off the side of the building. She used the force to break her fall. She looked up at Karel then fled.

"I don't understand her. When did I humiliate her?"

"I don't know. Let's keep going."

* * *

Empress Vox was battling the largest hoard of Grimm seen in any of the kingdoms in ages. For every one she killed, it seemed another ten took its place.

The White Fang were fighting against the Grimm, but they were having trouble. They didn't have enough.

The Grimm were everywhere. Vox used force lightning to kill a dozen Grimm. She looked at the streets. Her people in the city weren't weak, but nothing could have prepared them for something like this. A large Grimm ran through the streets, banging on its chest. It was a Beringel.

One of the White fang guardsmen stabbed it with a spear. It yelled, then turned around. It punched the guard into a building. Vox rushed forward, using the force, and made a slash across the Grimm's back, then spun around and made a similar strike across its chest. She spun her lightsaber and jammed it in the Grimm. It made a cry, then died.

"We have to get this under control." She said. She went to the guard. No good, they were gone.

"Then we need to figure out how to get these things out of the sky."

Dozens of Grimm dropped down from the sky in front of her. Vox cracked her neck and charged into the battle.

* * *

Steemi was in the royal estate, protecting the prince. Cedric was still quite young, but he had been moving his toys in the air with the force even at his age. The royal estate was the former academy. Steemi was the only one who Vox trusted to watch Cedric while the Grimm attacked. She was hearing the fighting, and hoped nothing would get in.

"Thank the force we have everyone here." She said. Steemi called for a squad of droids to back her up. They arrived and she ordered them to spread out across the room. The room they were in had only one entrance, and exit. It was a room made for this kind of thing, to protect Cedric if the war ever went south.

Steemi had control of the cameras and saw as the Grimm enter.

She got out something to cover Cedric's ears, then got out all of her pistols. She got ready for the Grimm to find her. In case it got to that point she got ready to throw herself on Cedric.

She heard as the gun shots throughout the estate started to grow fewer by the minute. She was glad she only had droids with her. She wasn't afraid to die for her master. They got closer until they were outside the room. After a few seconds, they got the door open. It was one of her men. They dropped to the ground with visible wounds like it was being used as a doll.

A grimm floated into view. It's orb like head unique to it. Steemi pointed her weapon at the Grimm

A voice came from it.

"I understand that you are the Empress' right hand woman."

"Did you just talk?" She didn't let her pistol down.

"Come now, Grimm can't talk. Take a look into the Grimm."

Steemi slowly moved forward, till she saw that the Grimm was showing the image of a woman.

"What is this?" Steemi asked.

"An Announcement. We both know you didn't kill that Schnee boy. I did. Now, I will leave you. You will go to your master and tell her that I am not happy with her. She has something I want."

"Who are you?"

"Call me Salem. Now you killed my spy when you took this place. You have something I want. Find the Spring Maiden then I will contact you again. Fail, and I will bring my full wrath on you. You have five years before then."

"Why so long?"

"This war creates an army for me, why stop before I have my full force. Now, you'll notice that my Grimm have left you alone. They left. Now go tell your master what I have said."

"I'm not leaving the Prince."

"Take him. What would I want with him?"

The Grimm left. Steemi collapsed, losing all her power

* * *

Vox just destroyed another wave of Grimm, and she was starting to get exhausted. She must have killed at least two-thousand of them. All the Grimm on the ground got up and started to leave.

"What?" Vox asked herself. All the Grimm started leaving. Everyone still alive just looked up and saw the Grimm leave. They started to cheer. Vox sat down on the ground and took a breather. Her people left their homes and came to the streets. The cheers stopped.

Some let out cries of agony, others didn't say anything.

Some of her people recognized her.

"Empress Vox, are you alright?" They asked. She looked up.

"Does anyone have water?" She asked. One of her people got out a water bottle and gave it to her. She drank it all.

"Thank you." She said.

Two of her guards found her. They helped her up.

"I'm just tired. Killing as many of those things as I did makes you tired alright." Vox went to the Royal estate, and saw the dead bodies outside. She started running. She saw the dead littering her home.

She had only one place where she would trust Steemi to be. She went there, and saw Steemi on her knees.

"Steemi!" Vox said.

Steemi looked up.

"Lady Vox, our true enemy has shown herself."

* * *

Meg and Ilia decided to get Adam away from the others. They started to run in the city. Adam followed them. Meg and Ilia turned a corner, and got ready for Adam. There was a noise above them, and they saw Adam falling down towards them. They dodged the attack. The ground on the other hand wasn't as fortunate. When it landed the ground, there was a large hole left. Adam took out his blade from the ground.

"You thought that little trick would stop me? How stupid do you think I am?"

"Looks like you just ignored your army to fight us."

"You really think I would split off from my troops to fight the two of you?"

The person who was talking to them changed their appearance. They weren't Adam.

"Your eyes lied to you." He said. He charged at them, but he wasn't a hard target to kill. They looked at each other and went back to where the troops were. Adam was carving through them.

"No" Ilia said.

The ground started to shake. A giant root came out of the ground and grabbed on Adam's leg. He looked up and saw Pyrrha and her team.

* * *

Ozpin got himself ready. He hadn't had to fight in a battle in quite some time. He looked at his office one last time. He got his cane and walked down the streets to his enemy. He saw at least thirty of them. He knew exactly what Salem did when he took one look at them.

"None of you should have been put through this. It's time to fix this wrong."

Ozpin knew what he had to do.

* * *

The Grandmaster arrived over the city and saw all the fighting. Her ship landed, and she got out immediately. She dashed towards Beacon. It would need more help than the temple. When she got to Beacon she saw Ozpin finishing a fight. Thirty bodies lay on the ground. He turned to her.

"You're back so soon. What happened?"

"I should ask the same, but so you know, the droids turned on us. Both sides."

"Salem." Ozpin swore under his breath. "You should go back to the temple. It's under attack."

"Can you hold this place down?"

"Yes."

The Grandmaster rushed towards the temple. When she got there she saw one of the old masters, fighting the Jedi.

"Master Steele! You died years ago!"

Master Steele turned around.

"I did. I was captured. Please kill me."

The grandmaster turned on her lightsaber. It was a curved blade, with a blue blade coming out of it.

"I don't know why you're here, or how, but you will not attack them!" She started her attack.

She was a fast attacker. She was a master of Form II. She was one of the only jedi who used this style. She didn't waste any time. Master Steele blocked the first wave, but locked blades with the grandmaster. He was too focused on her lightsaber that he didn't see he left an opening on his arm.

The Grandmaster took advantage of that opening, and landed her first strike. Black ooze came out of master Steele's arm. She didn't waste any more time, and quickly cut his lightsaber in two, then landed her killing blow.

"There are more of us." Master Steele said.

Master Steele fell to the ground, the body dissolving to his bones.

"How long has she had you?" The grandmaster asked.

"Grandmaster, thank the force you're here. Now we can send more Jedi to defend the city." Master Vester Brock said

"How many are here?"

"Twenty Jedi, and most of the guards."

"All the Jedi in Pare are in danger if we can't get them out."

"What's happened?"

"The droids turned against us somehow. The Empire's in the same situation."

"I don't like this at all."

"I hear you, but we still need them. They make up the bulk of our armies."

"Now's not the time to be talking about this. Send out five more Jedi."

"Understood." Master Brock left.

* * *

Qrow and Goodwitch followed behind Pyrrha. She brought her team, but she wasn't ready to fight in a battle like this. Pyrrha didn't listen to them. She rushed forward. When they caught up to her she was using her ability.

She had stopped Adam from killing Ilia. Adam turned to her. All Salem's forces turned to her.

"Let the world know this day that we, the Black Fang, declare war on the Alliance and the Empire along with all of their allies. Now we will kill our first target." Adam pointed to Pyrrha. "We will kill the false fall maiden."

Adam cut the plant and rushed at Pyrrha. He cut all the plants that rushed towards him. Qrow jump in front of his blade and blocked it.

"Not today. You've already killed enough for today." Qrow said. Ships appeared overhead. Vacuo arrived.

Adam didn't care.

"You won't stop me." Adam started his attack.

He attacked with his full force. Qrow blocked the hits, then when he was ready he made a spinning kick to Adam's face. He ordered his men to scatter.

"You're coming with me." Adam grab's Qrow, then jumps away from where the fight was taking place. Qrow tried to fight it, but Adam was stronger. He forced Qrow through a window and they rolled onto an office floor.

"I guess here's better."

"It's taken you out of the fight over the maiden." Adam said.

Qrow's eyes widened. He tried to get out of the building, but it was covered in a black ooze.

"I'd hate for Salem to lose her general in his first fight."

"You think too highly of yourself."

Qrow turned his Sword into Scythe mode.

"You're not going to stop us."

Adam attacked, but Qrow stopped it.

"You have family that go to this school, don't you?"

"If you don't stop there, you'll die."

"And they're on the team of my two greatest enemies, isn't that convenient?" Adam smiled.

Qrow turned his scythe back into his sword.

"This is your last fight."

* * *

Pyrrha watched as Adam took Qrow. Her team was looking at her.

"Since when were you able to do that?" Jaune asked

"It's a long story. We're still not safe."

"That's right you're not."

One of the Black fang troops jumped out. He was Kunai user. He threw three at Pyrrha, but Jaune stepped in front of her, blocking the Kunai. His shield started to shake, and started to get covered in a black ooze.

"What's that?"

"Don't touch it!" Goodwitch said.

The black fang troop landed, and rushed forward, getting behind two red fang troops. He stabbed them with two Kunai. They fell to the ground, and their bodies started to change. They rose up, and started attacking their fellow red fang members.

"Stop them at all costs!" ilia said. She hit one of them.

"You can't stop me." The Black fang troop said.

He was hit in the head with Nora's hammer.

The body hit the wall of a building, but it was different. It was ooze. The real one was still out there.

"Everyone, Protect Pyrrha." Goodwitch commanded.

* * *

Meg tried to follow Adam into the building, but the black ooze stopped her.

"Not good." She used the force to avoid it. She jumped off a lower part of the building, but before landing back on the ground, she was hit into a nearby office building.

She looked up after landing and saw who attacked her. She recognized her attacker.

"Mom!" She yelled.

Her mom had the same color of hair that Med did. She was shorter, but not by much. She used to have blue eyes, but now they were like Salem's. She wore a light outfit that let her move quicker.

Her mother wasn't a Jedi, but a hunter. Her mother used sickles chained together.

"I'm sorry. I don't have control of my body. You have to kill me. I'm sorry."

"B-but you're my mom." Meg said

"And you're a Jedi. It's your duty. I don't have much longer to talk. Salem's dangerous. Be careful. I'm sorry."

She lost control of herself and charged Meg.

* * *

Karel and Weiss followed the first signal they got. When they got there, it was under attack by both Imperial and Alliance droids. Those inside fired back, but by the cries, they were slowly dwindling.

"There's our first stop." Karel said. Weiss wrapped her arm around his neck. Karel grabbed it, then jumped down. They landed, and charged in. Karel threw one of the new droid poppers that were recently created.

It took down a handful of droids. He turned on his purple lightsaber and started to cut the droids down. Weiss used ice dust to create a way for her to use to get to the droids. It was a wall with a smooth inner surface creating a half circle. She used it, and plunged her _Myrtenaster_ into the body of two droids. She took it out and the two droids died. She fired fire dust in a crowd of droids.

* * *

Yang was sitting down, blood flowing down her head. Shrapnel flew and cut her when the droids found them. Arin and Yang had to move up to a higher floor to avoid the droids.

"I'm sure they'll find our signal. It's only a matter of time." Arin said smiling.

"I hope so. I don't know how long we'll last in our state."

"We can hold them off, don't you remember, you're my student?" Arin said smiling. Yang couldn't smile.

"Why'd you come here? We can't go to Mistral anymore."

"I thought ahead for that." Arin reached behind Yang's ear and turned off a clocking device. He let yang see it.

"This thing has been hiding your face since the battle started."

"But my friends knew who I was."

"That's because they're on the list I made."

"What are you talking about?"

"This device was made by one of my good friends, and they've outdone themselves with this one. It scatters the image of your face, and changes it in slight ways. You've got a face that stands out, and this suppresses that. Now you look like any other soldier. And it has a list of people that it doesn't affect quite ingenious right. I had one on as well." Arin said with a smile on his face.

"And when did you put this on me?"

"I didn't, you did. Remember our last concert, you had to wear that comm; at the end of it was one of these. All of our band members have them, that's why I'm worried about Deedee. Hers hasn't been responding when we look for it."

"I see. Isn't this an invasion of privacy?"

"All in the contract." Arin said. He put Yang's back on, and held his head to her forehead.

"I'm not as good as Gael at this, but here we go." Arin started using force heal on her forehead.

The cut closed up, and stopped hurting.

"There, good as new." Yang blushed

"Thanks." Yang said

* * *

Weiss finished her attack, and the last droid. Karel looked into the building. Everyone was dead, but it wasn't just Alliance troops. Imperials and alliance troops fought together. Karel and Weiss entered the building. Karel had to lead Weiss away from the bodies. She looked at him, in his eyes, seeing no emotion.

"How can you have no emotion when seeing this?" Weiss said

"This isn't my first war. Just like I told you, I fought in a large war, but the missions I completed were some of most gruesome battles of that war. You have to ignore it if you want to live."

Weiss was horrified. "But…"

"I know. But that's how it has to be."

They went to the top floor and found a wounded squad, being helped by an imperial medic. The medic turned to look at them and pulled a pistol.

"If you interrupt me, these men will die. I made the signal start."

"We won't stop you. We saw what your men did. I'll help you if I can."

"Do you know how to stich people up?" She turned back to her patient. She started fixing up the next person. Karel started helping a different troop. He recognized who was here. It was the members of Squad 13.

He did everything he could to help them, but he had to keep moving. They still haven't found Yang, Arin, or Vuren.

"I'll send men to help here. We have to keep moving." Karel said.

"Alright." Weiss said. Karel made a hole in the building then they jumped to the next building.

* * *

Vuren gathered forces together and made base in a bakery. She gathered Alliance and Imperial troops.

"Are we going to be found by those droids?" One of them asked

"No. We're going to be safe here. Trust me. I'm a Jedi knight." She said

"But you can't see the enemy."

"I may be blind, but I can see better than you all."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I don't care if you don't get it; we just need to make sure we're safe." Vuren said. Her head shot up.

"Get ready; we got droids coming from both directions." Vuren took out her lightsabers.

* * *

Adam wasn't getting tired. A benefit of Salem. He couldn't say the same of Qrow.

"Are you getting tired yet old man" Adam asked.

"Hardly." Qrow said. He wasn't going to let him hurt Yang or Ruby.

Qrow launched his next attack. He dragged his blade on the ground, but before it would have hit Adam he raised his sword, sending dust in his face. He then spun around, and kicked Adam into the ooze. It kept him in the building.

"I see. So how do we get rid of that?"

"You don't. That was a good hit. I'll give you that, but I've got a surprise for you now." The room started glowing red. Adam sent his attack at Qrow. He dodged it at the last second, as it hit the ooze wall. It almost broke. Adam appeared behind Qrow. He fired hitting Qrow, and his Aura broke.

"One hit is all it will take to take down the mighty Qrow."

Adam thrust his blade down to kill Qrow, but he turned into a Crow and survived.

"I have to use all my power." Qrow closed his eyes. Adam charged towards him, but before the blade could hit, Qrow raised his hand. Adam stopped. He threw Adam into the Ooze, and almost broke it. Qrow had been gathering force for the entire battle, and sent Force lightning at Adam. It sent Adam out of the building, and broke the Ooze. He leapt out of the building and followed Adam towards the ground. Adam hit the ground, and bulled out his blade, taking in all the energy. He closed his blade and used it to heal himself.

"This won't work anymore." Adam said, and he was surrounded by Vacuo troops and hunters pointing their weapons at him.

Adam gripped his sword as the troops opened fire. He used the gathered energy and slammed the ground with it. It shook all the troops and Qrow off their feet. Adam was able to flee.

"Pull back for now. Your mission is a success." Salem said

"But I didn't get the girl."

"You did what I wanted you to do. Leave before you die again."

"Alright." A portal was created in front of him.

Qrow raised a hand yelling for Adam to stop, but Adam didn't listen.

Qrow fainted.

* * *

Ozpin got to where Pyrrha was. She was surrounded, but they were still in danger.

"Where's Qrow?" Ozpin asked.

"Up there." Goodwitch pointed to the black ooze.

"The grandmaster arrived, After this, we're going to have to do something about a situation that has arisen in Pare."

"but that's where Ruby is" Pyrrha said

"Along with a lot of other people." Ren added.

Everyone was on edge, ready for the next attack. It came quick, twelve legendary hunters who wield twelve different types of swords. They stood over the group.

"The twelve swordsmen of the desert." Twelve swordsmen from Vacuo who singlehandedly held off an army of man and grimm in the last great war. All twelve were killed in the battle, but it's said they took over a thousand for each of them. Salem got to them.

"That's correct." The leader said. Eleven of them separated leaving the leader.

"I am Carmine Angel, leader of the swordsman. This is my blade, Eclipse." She turned her blade down towards the ground, and slammed it.

Ozpin's eyes widened.

"Don't move!"

They were trapped in a dome, and all the light was absorbed in Eclipse. The pommel glowed.

"We're trapped in here, but it's better to fight one than the other eleven. Get ready for a fight." Ozpin said.

"I'm glad someone recognizes my powers. I was able to make this sphere larger, but it killed me before." Carmine said. She put both hands on her blade and got ready to fight.

Ozpin moved in front of Jaune. Everyone made sure they were ready.

Carmine launched her attack at Ozpin. He blocked it, and when the blade connected, light flashed across his eyes, momentarily blinding Ozpin.

She was about a get a slash across his stomach, but Pyrrha caused a root to come up and block the attack. Carmine noticed and looked at Pyrrha.

"The maiden."

Ozpin quickly punched Carmine to make her step back. When she did Ren jumped in the air and fired at her. The flashes of light giving everyone a glimpse at their enemy. Ren ran up to her and slashed at her, closing his eyes before it connected with the blade. Ilia, being able to see in the dark rushed towards Carmine. After Carmine knocked Ren back, she turned back and slammed the hilt of her blade into Ilia's back. Ilia coughed up blood.

"Careful. She's one of the greatest fighters to ever live. Simple tricks won't work on her." Ozpin said.

"Now you tell me." Ilia said. She rolled to the side and avoided the sword from killing her. When it hit the ground, the light escaped the sword. It was a little brighter than before, just barely noticeable. Pyrrha understood it then.

"Every attack makes the sphere lighter! So she tries to end the fight quickly so we can't see her." Pyrrha changed her weapon into spear mode. She charged forward.

"No!" Goodwitch yelled. She ran forward. Ozpin took out a bottle in his jacket and threw it at the ground. Goodwitch picked it up and sent it flying at Carmine. She blocked it, and bits of light came off the sword. She blocked the hit Phyrra tried to land. Nora smiled and jumped at Carmine.

Carmine blocked the attack, then grabbed Nora, and tossed her into Jaune.

"That's it." She said. She charged forward, jumping over Goodwitch, and went for Phyrra. Jaune got out from under Nora, and tackled Pyrrha. The blade hit nothing. Carmine grabbed Jaune and prepared to kill him, but Pyrrha threw her shield, bouncing off the sphere hitting Carmine. She stumbled, and dropped Jaune. He went for his sword, and locked blades with Carmine.

"I can feel a power hidden inside of you boy. Don't die, and it won't be used against your loved one by Salem." Carmine released a large amount of light blinding everyone, and she went for Goodwitch. After a series of light attacks, she kicked her, breaking her aura.

Ozpin created a fireball and launched it at her. Carmine blocked it, using the last of her light. The sphere started to crack.

It broke open Carmine jumped back and the other swordsmen appeared.

"Carmine gave us trouble, how are we going to fight the rest of them?" Jaune asked.

"You won't. You'll cover Pyrrha as she gets out of here. I'll take care of them." Ozpin said.

"You'll die." Goodwitch said

"Have faith in me." He said smiling.

"Then I'm going to stay with you."

"I don't want you to die. Your aura already broke."

"I won't leave you here."

"They need someone to help them. That's your job." Ozpin said

"Fine. Don't you dare die!"

"Understood."

Glynda and the others left.

"Salem wishes to tell you something. She's been looking forward to this. This life has been particularly annoying." One of them said

"Salem, I know you're listening. Your attack won't work. You forget the spirit of these people. It's a useless attack. They'll rise back up. I'm not needed. This was always your fault."

Salem took control of Carmine.

"I don't care what you say. You think too highly of them. After I kill you, I will get what's mine."

"Fall's power doesn't belong to you."

"Who got her killed in the first place?"

"Arguable" Ozpin said

"Go on, kill him." The swordsmen charged Ozpin.

* * *

Karel and Weiss Finally got to the second signal, hoping it was one of them. There were more droids, but there was something else, a hum.

"That sounds like a lightsaber, wouldn't you say?"

Karel jumped over a few droids, and spun around, cutting down eight droids. Spikes of ice came up out of ground and destroyed more droids.

Vuren saw Karel coming up, and sighed with relief.

"We got back up, Open fire on those droids." She jumped into the crowd of droids. She moved closer to Karel until they met up

"I wondered when you were going to show up."

"Didn't think you would need me." Karel said with a smile on his face.

"Shut up. We got a job to do now."

"That we do"

Everyone fought the droids, and they eventually beat them back.

"You're needed back at the base. It's in that direction. I would give you the map…"

"But I'm blind, I know." Vuren said.

"Exactly. So, have you seen Yang and Arin?"

"I haven't seen anything since the day I was born."

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah I know. No I haven't seen them. What should I do with the Imperials?"

"Bring them back. It's not like they're going to fight you right." Karel looked at them.

"I don't think so. Alright everyone, we're going that direction."

They left, and Karel looked for another signal. There was only one left.

"We have to get there soon." Karel said. They dashed towards it.

* * *

Yang and Arin listened as the droids started coming up the floors. Yang got out droid poppers. They moved up the stairs and when they were in sight, Yang threw it. She took out the first few droids. Arin gave her a thumbs up.

It didn't stop the droids for long. They just moved past the downed ones. Yang got ready and started firing at them, taking them out one by one. She jumped out of the way right before she would have been hit.

"We may be in over our heads." Arin said.

Karel got to the final location. They didn't see any droids on the ground. That was either really good or really bad.

"Let's get moving. This could be bad." Karel said. Weiss followed Karel up the floors of the building.

Karel found droids. He kept moving, not stopping to fight them individually, so he just cut them to pieces while walking. They turned on him, but they couldn't stand up against him. Soon he got to the top floor, and found Yang and Arin. They were breathing heavily, and Yang had blood running down her mouth. There was a dead HK droid on the ground.

"That's impressive." Karel said.

"Yeah, but it broke our auras." Arin said. He tried to get up, but couldn't. "It's a real good thing you found us just now."

"I'd say so." Karel sent out a message.

"We found them."

Master Roni got the message.

"Return to base."

Karel smiled.

"I got a fancy trick." Karel pressed a few buttons, and his ship was right outside of the building.

"I don't think we're going to get a way to get back." Karel said

"If we don't have to walk that far, it's good enough for me." Arin was hiding a wound.

Yang looked at Weiss and smiled. "Can you help me out?" She asked

"You got it." Weiss said.

* * *

Meg Rushed forward, her lightsaber hitting the sickles her mother used.

"Don't hold back. Free me from Salem's control." She said. She moved her sickle over Meg's hand, and the sickle closed on it. Meg's mom had complete control of her daughter's hand. She moved it, breaking the lock.

Meg tried to head-butt her mom, but it didn't work. Her mom went behind her, and pulled on the chain. Meg tried to attack but when she moved her arm, her mom stopped her.

"I'm sorry." She said. She kicked Meg's leg, causing her to fall to the ground. Meg spun her leg around, trying to get her mom off of her. Her mom spun around, bringing more chain out of the weapon.

Meg got up and got her lightsaber, and tried to cut the chains, but it bounced off.

"No, do all of you have Cortosis?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, but you have to find a different way to kill me." Meg's mom ran towards a pillar in the office room. She threw the Sickle, and the chain wrapped around the pillar. She went to her weapon, and caused the chain to move in. Meg tried to fight against it, but she didn't succeed. She was just out of reach of the other sickle, and now at the mercy of her mother.

Meg stood trying to defend against her mother, but she kept getting hit. She was always a second late in seeing her. She felt the metal of the Sickle clamp on her hand. She knew if she didn't do anything, soon she'd have one less hand. She moved forward, and cut the pillar in half. The chains started to go back into the weapon. It met into one weapon.

The metal retracted.

The chains were the backbone of the weapon.

"If you get your first sickle locked on an opponent, you look for something solid to plug the second one into, then the tension of the chains trying to get together causes the sickle to start closing in, until you take a part of your opponent off, right mom?"

"I'm glad you're smart. Do you remember my semblance?"

"Phasing through things. Hard to forget."

Meg spun around with the other half of the weapon flying with her hand.

Meg's mom barely dodged it from killing her, then she phased through the ground. Meg jumped in the air, and hung on the pillar, waiting for her mom to come up. Meg was tackled from within the pillar, and went flying into a cubical. She dropped her lightsaber. Meg shook her head, but didn't have a lot of time. Meg's mom put all her weight on Meg's chest, and took the other end of the sickle and locked it to her neck. It started to clamp again.

"Forgive me."

Meg didn't have long. She used the force to move her lightsaber. It came flying, and she turned it on. Meg's mom gasped. The purple light shown threw her abdomen. With the last of her power, she unlocked the twin sickles, and she fell down to the ground.

Meg gasped. She went to her mom's side.

"Mom." Was all she could get out.

Her mom put her hand on her daughter's face.

"I'm so proud you turned out to be such a good jedi. Never hesitate to fulfill your duty." She started fade.

"I will mom. I will."

Her mom smiled at her, and once more died.

Meg grabbed her mother's weapon, and closed her mother's eyes.

Meg jumped out of the building and saw Ozpin fighting ten swordsmen at the same time. Two were off to the side, then vanished. Meg jumped down and went to Ozpin's side.

"Ozpin, where is everyone, and who are these guys?"

"These are the swordsmen of the desert. I'm sure you know them."

"Of course."

"The others left on my orders. They're protecting Pyrrha."

"And you're fighting them by yourself?"

"Don't worry about me."

"I can help with one of them."

"No, that will take you away from protecting Pyrrha. She can't be killed."

"Why?"

"I don't have time to explain now, just go"

"Fine." Meg went back to the temple.

* * *

Ilia was running with the rest of the group, but she didn't know where they were going. Only Goodwitch knew where they were going.

The black fang troop with the Kunai showed up again. Everyone stopped.

"You have to keep going. I can take care of this guy." Ilia said.

The troop looked at Ilia and let everyone past.

"I am from Mistral. I died during the Great War. These are my weapons." He said. He took out Kunai.

"I know what your weapons are, you attacked my men."

"I am sorry for that. I don't have control over my body anymore."

"You won't get any sympathy from me." Ilia said.

"I don't expect it." He said. He rushed forward, throwing two Kunai at Ilia. She blocked them, but didn't notice that he disappeared. She turned around looking for him, when she heard something in the air. She looked up and saw him flying down towards her.

She jumped back as he landed. He threw two more Kunai. Ilia got ready to block them, but then, they turned into eight.

"What?" Ilia said. She took out two, but had to avoid the other six. "So, you multiply your weapon?"

"Yes." He threw two Kunai, and it became sixteen. Ilia got a piece of wind dust and threw it towards the Kunai. It broke and stopped the knives.

Ilia smiled. She sent out her whip, and it was blocked by two more Kunai. Ilia sent a wave of electricity down her whip. Before it was about to hit him, his Kunai changed form into pure lightning dust Kunai. It absorbed the shock, then he threw them at Ilia. She jumped backwards, but it didn't help. The Kunai hit the ground, breaking, and sending the electric shock out. A piece of the knife flew past her, cutting her cheek.

"I don't get it. How did that happen?"

"It's the Kunai. They can change to whatever I want it to be."

"So that means no elemental dust."

"Correct."

Ilia's eyes widened, as she heard those sixteen kunai from before, coming towards her.

* * *

Goodwitch lead them to Beacon, and to the elevator. She moved team JNPR in and pressed the button to go to the vault.

She got out of the elevator.

"I'm going to help Ozpin." She said

Pyrrha began to say something, but the door cut her off.

Glynda ran back towards where Ozpin was. She ran past where Ilia must have been fighting, but she didn't see either of them. She called for all the staff to meet her to help Ozpin.

Only Port and Oobleck were able to get there.

Ozpin was gasping for breath, blood running down his face. One of the Swordsmen were about to end him.

"I'm sorry everyone."

But he was stopped by Port firing at him. Ozpin looked over and saw them.

"What are you doing here?" Ozpin asked.

"We couldn't let you fight alone."

Glynda arrived. She saw Ozpin's condition, and tried to hide her fear.

"Glynda? Where are the others?" Ozpin asked.

"Safe. Now we fight together" Glynda said.

Ozpin shook his head and got up.

"Alright. There are only eight of them now. The others left."

"Where to?" Port asked

"Salem's Domain."

"Look at the odds, only two to one. I think you're slowing down Ozpin." Oobleck said.

The Swordsmen split up in duos and started fighting.

* * *

Ozpin was exhausted, so he relied on his magic to power his body enough to survive the attack.

He blocked the attacks from both sides. He landed a hit on one of them. That's when one got behind him, and landed a hit on his back. Ozpin screamed in pain, and felt his blood leave his body. He knew his favorite shirt was ruined.

"This is bad." He said.

Oobleck wasn't faring too well, but he knew he was doing better than Ozpin. He just wasn't used to this kind of fight.

"Who wants some coffee?" Oobleck took a sip then turned his cup into his weapon. He took out a clump of coal, and hit it. The coal broke, and caught on fire. It went in all directions, hitting the clothes of one of the swordsmen.

"Bingo." He said. Oobleck went after the one he could face. He looked back for a second and found that he was being chased by the other one, so he got out fire dust, and tossed it at the one chasing him. The one he was chasing went in a building and stopped.

"We will fight here." The swordsmen said.

His sword was an executioner's sword.

"This sword is named Fate." He slammed his sword in the ground, and created a magical barrier. "Our fate is decided here."

"I see." He picked up Fate and pointed it at Oobleck.

"Fight with Honor"

* * *

Port was able to take on the two opponents much easier than his allies.

He noticed Oobleck run off after one of them, and him being chased by another. He fired at one of them, but the swordsman was able to block all the hits.

"This is the Protector's sword. It creates a shield around me. To win this fight you'll have to fight me first." The owner of the sword said.

"Fine then. I guess you'll be the first one to learn my lesson."

Port was about to start, then the ground started to shake. Everything shook. He looked around but couldn't find where it was coming from.

The swordsmen looked at each other, then vanished.

"What?" Port asked.

All the rubble on the ground blew into the sky. Port coughed, then saw a shadow coming from the dust.

* * *

Oobleck and the swordsman felt everything. They looked outside. Dust had shot up in the sky where the others were.

"Looks like I don't have a lot of time." The swordsman said. He picked up his blade, then rushed Oobleck. It hit Oobleck, but he wasn't done yet. He carried Oobleck across the floor of the building, hitting him with everything on the floor. Oobleck's Aura was about to break. The swordsman slammed Oobleck into the floor. His aura was gone.

Oobleck laid on the ground, his abdomen covered in his blood. He watched as the sword was brought up, but before he was able to decapitate Oobleck, he stopped.

"I understand." He looked at Oobleck. "Looks like you live today." A portal appeared behind him. He went in it, and the field fell. Oobleck lost consciousness.

* * *

Glynda wasn't able to fight any longer. She tried to block an attack, but that swordsman knocked her weapon out of her hand.

"You shouldn't have come back" She said. She put her sword, Storm caller, back in its sheath, then hit Glynda with it, breaking her arm.

Glynda fell to the ground. She looked at Ozpin. The swordsman grabbed her by the hair, and got out her sword once again.

Glynda yelled out "Ozpin!"

Ozpin looked and saw as the sword entered Glynda's back.

Ozpin started to shake. It didn't matter who he was fighting. Ozpin gathered a large amount of magic and let it out. The Swordsmen all teleported away, except for one. The wielder of Oblivion stayed, and plunged his sword into Ozpin. Ozpin didn't care. The wielder pulled it out and vanished. Ozpin walked to pick up Glynda. She was gone.

"Not again." He said. Ozpin knew one spell, one he never tried before, but there's a first for everything.

Ozpin gathered the magic needed to use this spell.

It was forbidden in the old world for how it will always end in the death of the caster, but he was going to die. He would swap his life for hers, and he would take on all her wounds. He kissed Glynda, casting the spell, the kiss of life. He walked out of the dust he created, and watched as Glynda coughed, life reentering her. He started to shake. He dropped Glynda, and fell to the ground.

Glynda looked as she saw Ozpin fell to the ground. She looked at her chest and saw the wound gone. She knew what Ozpin had done.

"No, I didn't want you to do this."

"You'll have to… find me when… I return."

"Why did you do that?"

"Only one of us were going to die today." Ozpin smiled. "A tear, Glynda?"

Glynda cried as she held Ozpin's head. The tears fell on his face, mixing with his blood.

He reached up, and wiped away her tears. The wound from Oblivion would soon end him. It stopped any healing from happening.

"No, don't cry. When there's life, there's hope." Ozpin closed his eyes.

* * *

For a moment, everything went quite.

Salem watched. She felt something. Was this guilt? Sadness? Pain? Or was this revenge?

The twelve swordsmen appeared in front of Salem.

She turned to them and said.

"You did well. Rest now."

They left. Salem watched as Ozpin's friends came up to his body. She brought back all her forces. Her enemy was dead, but now she would have to search anew. She still feared Ozpin.

* * *

Ilia was in bad shape. The Kunai kept multiplying, and now there were hundreds of them flying at her. This fighter was beyond her skill. Soon he would be able to kill her. She had hidden to get her breath back.

"I can't fight him. He's too strong." She said.

"Thank you." He was too fast for her.

"If you're going to kill me, just do it."

He got ready, but stopped.

"No, My mistress has ordered me back."

"What?"

"You will live. Tell me your name, and I will you mine."

"Ilia Amitola"

"I am Reolin Brans." The portal opened behind him, and he disappeared.

Ilia sighed in relief.

* * *

Karel brought everyone back to the Base they made. When he got there he was greeted with a surprise. It had grown, and now he saw that the Emperor was here. Talking to Master Roni.

"I came like you asked me. What is it?"

"You know as well as I do that we can't get out of here alive if we're fighting each other."

"I don't doubt my skills." He said

"But what about all your men, and your ships. Who's going to fly them?"

"I can fly."

"Even so, we just want to get out of here as much as you do."

"I doubt you'll just leave. This group will leave then you'll send in the next. This battle isn't over yet."

"We can fight later, now we have to work together so we can get everyone out of here. We'll call a two week truce where both sides leave this city."

The Emperor though for a moment then shook his head.

"I agree to these terms. We will fight together until we defeat the droids."

"Then we leave."

"Yes, then we leave. I am a man of my word. It's time for the alliance to prove it's honest."

"We won't betray you." Roni said.

The Emperor turned around and started to walk away. He looked at Karel for a moment. Then continued.

Karel felt puny in that moment. Sym had a cold aura to him.

Master Roni came up to Karel and his group.

"Vuren already came back. Thanks for your help."

"I see we're going to help the empire."

"I don't like it, but we don't have enough man power to get out of here anymore. We have to destroy the droid factories, then we can leave."

They both felt something. They looked at each other.

"That's not good. Something's happening." Karel said

"Our contact with Vale just cut off."

* * *

All the Imperials gathered together with the Alliance troops, and it was uneasy to be sure.

"How are we going to destroy the factories?" Karel asked in the meeting. The Jedi and Sith met together that night to discuss how they were going to destroy the factories.

"At least we don't have to fight all the droids. We just need to fight the ones in the factory." Sno said

"Yes, but we can't bomb them with the ships. We both installed heavy shielding to protect our droids. We also need to figure out why these droids turned on us." Akio Jin said

"Once we do, we'll be able to take down the shields and blow them up, which will turn off most of the droids, if not all, in the city" Mizuki said

"So' we're going to have to split in three to finish this." Lord Soule said

"Two." Vuren responded.

"No, three, since we need a team to hold the city while we split off."

"Fine, we'll have three." Roni said.

"If we have this all figured out, then let's strike tomorrow." Emperor Sym said

"Isn't that a little quick?"

"We need to get out of here. Whoever did this probably is doing this all over. We need to return to our homes as quick as possible."

"Then we go tomorrow"

* * *

 **Year 0 Month 9 Day 4**

It was decided that both factories would be attack with a Jedi and a Sith. Roni would go with Emperor Sym, and Lord Soule would go with Karel. They each took two hundred troops, and the rest would stay in the city, until they discovered what went wrong.

Karel and Soule took their two hundred with them to the imperial droid factory. Karel didn't say a word.

"Remember, this is the only time we're going to be allies, so next time, don't think I'll go so easy on you."

"We're working together any you threaten me? Let's just get this done with and go home."

"Don't slow me down."

"Go right on ahead."

Their group got to the droid factory, and immediately they were under fire. New droids were being created. Soule got to the door first, and planted charges on it. He moved out of the way and blew open a large hole. Everyone was going to rush into the building. They started, and no matter what, you kept running. Karel led the troops, blocking in coming hits, but he didn't stop. Even as some troops were being killed left and right they only had one goal, to get into the building.

Once they got away from the windows they would be okay. Soule entered the building, and saw the factory working by itself. He didn't see anyone, anywhere.

"That can't be." He said to himself. He didn't have much time to think, as he was getting shot at as soon as he entered. He let out force lightning, clearing the way for the troops, and he moved them along to the stairs. They rushed up, and got a vantage point on the droids below. They opened fire, taking out many of them, but there were still many more.

"We need to stop the droids from being made." Karel yelled at Soule, because it was so loud.

"If we destroy one part of the assembly line, then all droids after this room will be faulty." He yelled back.

Karel got out his lightsaber, and threw it at the arms assembling droids. This section of the assembly line, the finishing touches was destroyed. Karel kept moving on. He went to another assembly room, and destroyed the arms, until they couldn't create any new.

"We solved one problem, but we still have another to figure out." Soule said.

"I didn't forget!" Karel said. Karel got more of his troops to move on. They found a room that was locked, so Karel opened it up.

"Tell Soule we found the workers. Tell him not to expect anything good." Karel closed the door, behind it the bodies of all the workers from the factory.

Soule reached Karel again.

"Any alive?"

"No. Now we have to get to the control room. That's where we'll find what went wrong."

"Agreed." Karel and Soule rushed up the factory, until they found the control room. The only thing still intact was the main computer. Karel looked through it, and found something.

"It's a small thing, but it's caused all of this. It's like a tick. If we try to take it out by force, we may end up doing more harm than good."

"We don't have long. Our troops are running low."

"We need ten minutes. This is going to be complicated." Karel started the process to stop the bug at its source. He knew every second would bring the remaining droids back. Karel pressed one key, thinking he did it, but then the screen flashed red.

"What did you do?"

"I think all your droids in the city are going to be coming here soon. If you can contact the base, request backup. We have fifteen minutes now.

Karel went back to the computer, and figured out his mistake, he only cracked the defenses. He stopped after that, and now, the bug learned from that.

Soule got the last of their troops to defend the top floor. They lost most of the troops along the way. Each minute more would die, and more droids arrived.

"Hurry up."

"Almost there." Karel replied.

He pressed a few more keys and a chip came out of the computer. He picked it up and realized what went wrong.

"This chip infected all the droids that were made here." Karel said.

Soule looked out the door, and saw the droids standing still. Karel lowered the shield, and put the chip in his pocket.

"Everyone, we have to get out. The ship's going to be coming."

The troops were more than happy to leave the factory. And right after everyone got out, the blast came down. The factory was destroyed.

"Let's not do this again" Soule said

"Agreed" Karel said

They heard the other factory get destroyed and knew that the alliance was over.

"Two weeks, that's how long of a standstill we have here, and after those two weeks, the battle will start again." Soule said

"I'm not going to be here when it does. I'm going to head to a beach right after this."

Karel planted his head on the grass, as the factory was outside the city.

"I wouldn't mind a trip to a hot spring." Soule said.

"Well, this is where we depart. Hope to never see you again."

"Scared?"

"No, I just really don't like you." Karel said.

* * *

Roni and Sym were able to get everything done, and gathered up their troops. Roni and Sym stood at the heads of their exhausted armies.

"Two weeks."

It hung over their heads. Two weeks. In two weeks this place would once again be the site for a battle that seems to be unending.

The Alliance and Empire left the City of Pare, both sides knowing it was going to restart in two weeks.

Nothing would stop the war. Just as Salem planned.

 _ **Author's notes: Okay guys, so I have a reason why this didn't come out sooner. I broke my laptop that I wrote the rest of this story on. I have a way to write now, as you can tell.**_

 _ **So this will be the last Pare chapter for a while. Originally it was going to be three chapters, then two, but now, you know…**_

 _ **I'll try to get more of these out**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	19. Chapter 18: Ozpin's Shadow

**Chapter 18**

 **Year 0 Month 9 Day 3**

 **After the destruction of the droid factories in Pare both sides return to their damaged homes.**

Glynda was holding on Ozpin's head as everything seemed to calm down, but she wasn't calm. Her tears landed on his face, as she was rocking his body back and forth.

Port saw what happened, and gasped. His close friend, lying there dead on the ground. He choked back tears.

"This can't be happening" Port said. Vacuo troops arrived on the scene, but they all stopped when they saw Ozpin's body.

"Where's Oobleck?" Port asked. He rushed to where he saw Oobleck run off to, and found him, bloody and almost dead.

"We aren't losing two today." Port signaled for Vacuo medics to arrive. They did, and were able to get Oobleck to a safe place.

Port leaned on a wall, and shook his head. "This can't be happening."

* * *

 **Month 9 Day 4**

Ozpin's body was kept safe. Glynda didn't want to leave it.

Qrow woke up in a hospital bed. Oobleck was next to him. He looked and his brother in law was in the room. Taiyang Xiao-Long stood there.

"I came as soon as I heard the news."

"It's nothing that bad." Qrow said.

"No, it is." Tai said

"What happened?" Qrow asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Ozpin's… dead."

It hit Qrow like a truck. He slammed his fist against the wall, leaving a dent.

"I should have been there for him. Why am I so useless?" Qrow said.

"Calm down Qrow."

"Calm down! Do you realize what you said? How am I supposed to be calm when you tell me Oz is dead?"

"He'll be back."

"When? If you haven't noticed, we're in a war!"

"I have. Do you know how hard it is to send Yang and Ruby out there almost every day?"

Qrow clenched his fist. "I need a drink."

"Stop, you took a beating out there. Who did this to you?"

"Do you remember when we got attacked before all this stuff went down? Last time Vale was attacked, the white fang were led by an idealistic kid, Adam Taurus."

"But he's dead." Tai said

"I know, but Salem has a power to bring people back from the dead."

"Then that proves it."

"Proves what?"

"The Swordsmen of the Desert killed Ozpin."

Qrow felt defeated.

"Salem got them to?"

"Yeah."

"I think we both need a drink."

"Maybe. Oh, yeah, Ruby and her team are coming back today. There's going to be a two week ceasefire at Pare."

"That's all the time we got? Lot of good it will do us."

* * *

Ruby felt her master's sorrow at something but she didn't know what. When she left the room she was in, Ruby could tell something was wrong.

"What happened?"

"Headmaster Ozpin is… dead."

Karel just entered the room and stopped

Ruby couldn't believe it.

"How's this possible? No one is stronger than Ozpin." Ruby said.

Karel looked at the ground.

"No one is immortal." Karel said

Ruby turned to him.

"I know that! But no one could have done this."

Karel opened the door.

"I'm sorry Ruby. I truly am."

Karel left.

Ruby wanted to follow him, but Roni stopped her.

"Let everyone mourn in their own way." Roni said

"How come this victory feels so hollow?" Ruby asked. Roni had no response she just hugged Ruby.

* * *

Everyone was told about Ozpin's death. Bora went to Karel's side.

"Are you okay?" She asked

"I did it again." He said

"Did what?"

"I put someone on a pedestal that I knew they couldn't live up to. How could he make himself so indispensable, then go die on us like that?" Karel said "It so easy for one life to be taken, but I still thought of him as higher than death. How stupid can I be?" He said.

"Karel…"

"How could I get mad at him, then leave like I did? How come I thought of myself so high and mighty, to just walk away? What makes me so special?"

"Stop it." Bora said

"I can't. How come I'm spared, when so many others die? It's not fair. If I could, I would give my life to end all this fighting."

Bora hugged Karel.

"I don't want you to throw away your life."

Karel didn't say anything.

"Thank you." He said. "Look at me. Being selfish again."

"It's alright to feel pain. That's being human."

"But I'm supposed to not feel these things. I'm supposed to feel joy that he joined with the living force." Karel put his head on Bora's shoulder.

"How do you deal with these emotions?" Karel asked.

"You just do." Bora said

"How are you feeling?" Karel asked Bora.

"It hurts. Our men, and friends gave their lives for us. A pillar of stability is gone." Bora sighed "It hurts."

When they landed, they saw the city in pieces.

"Vale was meant to be a place of peace." Akio said

"Not even here is safe from the war." Mizuki said.

* * *

Roni went to where Ozpin's body was being held. All the staff from Beacon met there.

No one spoke until Glynda started.

"We have a problem on our hands. Ozpin left no one in his place."

"No one expected this." Port said

"I know that. I don't need to be reminded." Glynda snapped.

"We need to decide who will become the new headmaster. Then the council will decide who will take his place." Roni said

"You know who I support on that issue. It's my belief that Glynda should inherit his position" Professor Peach said.

"It will be accepted easier than anyone else." Roni added.

"I never thought this would happen. I don't have any plans yet." Glynda said

"We just need to make a choice soon. The council won't give us much time." Roni said

"If there are no arguments, then we shall notify the public that Glynda Goodwitch will take the place of Ozpin." Port said. No one said anything.

Glynda sighed.

"Then it's decided. I'll become the headmaster."

"And we will organize Ozpin's funeral." Port announced.

* * *

 **Month 9 Day 18**

Even though the truce ended, both sides were hesitant to use to fight. Neither side had figured out how to stop an attack like this again.

But in Vale that didn't matter. It was Ozpin's funeral. The scars on his body were covered, and he was buried in his favorite clothes. The casket was laid in a tomb before the funeral. Glynda laid a single rose in the tomb before it was sealed.

At beacon, everyone wore black. A picture of Ozpin was placed in the gardens, with a hedge stone. They feared that Salem would try to steal his body. It started to rain.

Glynda started.

"We come here today to honor the life and memory of Headmaster Ozpin, and all others defending the city of Vale from our enemy." Glynda started.

Ruby thought to herself "Why did this have to happen? Why did somebody so good have to die?"

Glynda continued.

"But he would tell us to be brave. He would have liked to remind us all that we are not alone. He often told me about the power of life, and how strong our will could be. He told us to let our will burn like a fire. This will is what gives us our strength to defend what is most precious to us. It's an unbreakable bond that connects us together. He would ask us if we have this will in ourselves. I hope that answer is yes."

Glynda put her hand on the hedge stone and looked at the picture.

"His last words were to me. A tear, Glynda? Don't cry." The image of Ozpin whipping away her tears was a vivid as it was two days ago. "Don't cry. When there's life, there's hope"

Ruby was standing next to her father.

"Dad, why do they do it? Why do people risk their lives for others?"

"When people die, their dreams die, and all ties except one are separated. That last tie is people like you or me. All the people who were important to him are still with him. We share our memories of him with each and every one who met him. It grows larger and stronger as time passes. We stay in this circle no matter what."

"I get it. But still, I feel sad he's gone."

"Think how sad it would be if he died for nothing." Qrow said. Ruby looked back at her uncle.

"But he left us something special. Don't worry. You'll get it someday."

Ruby smiled. "Give me some credit. I get that much."

Everyone went to the ground and put white flowers one by one on the grounds. Many stopped to say a last goodbye. Karel stopped.

"I'm sorry. I wish I got to say that when you were alive. Goodbye." Karel placed his flower down. Bora came up after him. Karel didn't hear what she said. He didn't need to. He watched as everyone else went by. After everyone placed their flowers, and said their goodbyes. Glynda started again.

"Ozpin never liked that we were at war. He always hated war. He told me that after the war ended, he would step down, but now, that was taken from him. I can't lie to you. This enemy is not the same that we have been fighting. Many of you fought people who you thought to be dead. That is the power of our enemy, to raise the dead and use them like a puppet. The council doesn't want me saying this, but we have a new enemy, much like the Grimm."

People looked at each other. She continued.

"Ozpin has left us, but that doesn't mean his sacrifice was pointless. We thank him for his sacrifice. I thank him."

The Funeral ended shortly after.

And so did the rain.

* * *

Qrow went to a bar. Tai was with him.

"Thanks for earlier." Tai said to Qrow.

"I was helping my niece." Qrow said. There was still some tension between the two of them.

"I never thought you would take me up on my offer. I though you quit drinking."

"I did." Tai drank a shot.

Qrow looked at Tai

"How long has it been since we did this?" Qrow asked.

Tai didn't have an answer. "Too long"

Qrow and Tai got shots and left the bar. They poured out the drinks.

* * *

Later in the day Meg went to the Holo of the names of everyone killed that day. Name after name scrolled by, crushing Meg's soul. Guilt raised in her chest.

"I should have stayed with him. I shouldn't have gone back to the temple." Meg said

"Do you regret it?" Meg didn't know who was talking. She turned around and saw a Faunus girl. She held up a picture.

"This man was my dad. He's on here." She said

"I'm sorry."

"My dad told me to run. I don't regret it. I would have died if I didn't run. Then he would have died for nothing." She said

"That's very mature of you" Meg said

"I know." She looked at Meg's lightsaber.

"Are you a Jedi?"

"Yes." Meg said smiling.

"Cool. Do you know this man." She held up a second picture. It was blurry, but she recognized it as Adam.

"Is he related to you?"

"No"

Meg felt major relief.

"What's your name?"

"Rouge." She smiled. Meg felt something about her.

She pulled out a card.

"Hey, Rouge, can you tell me what this card says?"

"Ace of spades." Meg turned it over to reveal she was right. She put it away and held out a ball.

Rouge used the force to take it from her hand.

"Hey, rouge, would you like to meet some other Jedi?"

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 13**

Roman sat in his cell, writing on the cell wall marking the day. He got a ball and tossed it at the wall.

A guard came in and gave Roman his meal.

"Here you go."

"Finally, what is it today? Moldy oatmeal? Poisoned fish?" He asked mockingly.

"It's something special." The guard said. Roman looked at him, and recognized him. Today was the last day he was going to be stuck in this place.

"Send Cinder my regards Mercury." Roman said

"You can tell her yourself." Mercury said as her left.

Cinder sat in the director's chair. The director wouldn't be needing it any longer.

She looked at Ulric and smiled. She pressed the button to unlock all the doors.

"Oops, look like I just freed all the prisoners." She said.

"I'm just glad the guards are droids."

"Your no fun."

"You know I don't like killing."

"I know."

Roman opened the door, and put on his hat. His present was his cigar. He walked out of the cell, and walked towards the armory. A droids fell from above him as many of the inmates started to escape. He picked up the gun from the droids, and as one ran into the room, he fired at it. It fell to the ground. He started humming a song, as Neo jumped down, handing him his cane.

"Why thank you." He said. He went to the armory and looked for two very important weapons. He opened boxes, finding all sorts of contraband, slipping some in his jacket. The one next to it was full of money.

"Who knew Christmas came early?" Roman said to Neo. She smiled, and started taking the money. He opened the last box and found what he was looking for.

"And here it is." He pulled out the two inquisitor's weapons. "I think Salem will find these incredibly interesting."

Emerald entered the room, and helped herself to some of the cash. "Found what you were looking for?"

"I did." He tossed one lightsaber to her. "Remember these?"

"From the inquisitors two years ago."

"And she's got it right on the money." Roman brought down the rest of that box. "We also got a bunch of those guns right here." He showed her the blasters.

"I guess you aren't completely useless." Emerald said.

"Watch it." He said.

"Who's breaking who out of prison?"

"To all who want to leave this place, our ship has arrived." Cinder announced.

Roman rounded up a group of criminals and got them to bring everything from the armory to the Ship. Cinder looked at them.

"Are they needed?" She asked Roman. He thought for a moment.

"No" They started to fly away, but Cinder didn't close the door. She force pushed all but one out of the ship. The last was holding onto the door.

"Boss! Please, I was always loyal!"

"You know what, you were. Come on up." Roman pointed the end of his cane in his face. The criminal grabbed on the cane, then the sight came up.

"But I never liked you."

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 14**

The news of the jailbreak spread fast. It was a great embarrassment to Atlus.

"The Empire didn't break him out, but we aren't going to announce that." Ironwood looked at Glynda.

"I did what I though should happen." Glynda responded.

"But the only one to get out was Roman. All other prisoners were killed." Roni said "So what did he steal?"

"Money, drugs, and weapons. Two in particular." Ironwood said

"And those two are?"

"The inquisitor's lightsabers."

"Why would Salem want them?" Glynda asked.

"Do you know where their bodies are?" Qrow asked.

Silence.

"I wasn't here for the inquisitor attack. I don't know how strong they are." Roni said

"They were tough. Not as tough as the Emperor, but still tough. Enough that a jedi would have to be present to beat them." Qrow said

"I see. So if she has their lightsabers, and we don't know where her body is, then we have to assume she has them too." Roni said. She sunk in her chair.

"Then Master Roni here can get us a Jedi." One of the chairmen said.

She really didn't like them.

"That's not how it works. I just can't send them wherever I want."

"But we'll need them to fight this new threat."

"We're already pushed to the edge with how few of us there are."

No one liked how vocal the councilmen have gotten since Ozpin died. No one knew how much he kept hold of them till now.

"I'll try to get a Jedi, but we can't tell where they'll appear. They aren't the empire."

"Speaking of the Empire, how is Pare going?"

"Like Pare always goes. Slow."

Roni wished she wasn't here.

* * *

Lady Vox went over for the past forty days to find anything about the Maidens. She found one thing so far about it. Professor Lionheart's journal. He wrote all about the maidens, and about the new enemy.

"She's been in my dreams. I can't stand it. She wants to know where the spring Maiden is. She haunts me every night."

"I know the Spring Maiden is in Mistral, but we don't know where she is or who."

Vox wanted to find more about Maidens, and find out their powers, but she knew she had time. Salem would show up in five years. She would train up her forces for the fight, or could she.

"You're thinking too much about this. We don't have the info we need yet." Sym said.

"We don't know how strong this enemy is. We have to be ready." Vox said

"And we will be, but ripping every book apart until you find what you want won't help us.

"I know. I'm just worried about Cedric. She could have killed him."

"He'll grow stronger. Don't you worry."

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 20**

Ruby and Yang went back to Patch to surprise their dad. They got his favorite dessert, a root beer float. They opened the door, and saw Tai watching a video of Summer.

He turned and saw his daughters. He paused the video.

"Hey you two. Come on, don't leave the door open."

They closed the door and put everything down.

"Why are you watching a video of Mom?" Yang asked.

"I wanted to revisit some old stuff. Come on, this part she talks to you two. Don't worry, I never watched it before." He patted the couch.

Yang and Ruby sat down, and Tai pressed play.

"Yang, I know you're not my biological daughter, but you are my daughter. Watching you grow up has been amazing. I'm so glad you treasure Ruby. I was worried. But I know, that was a little dumb." Summer put her hand to the back of her head and smiled.

"Mom…" Yang said

"Remember to take care of your dad. He'll need your help. He can be a bit scatterbrained at times." Yang chuckled. "But that's one reason I love him." She smiled.

"Make sure your uncle doesn't do anything stupid. He's going to need help too. Also, Don't let any man boss you around! That's not you! And if you find a special someone, hold them close in your heart. What else?" Summer's eyes widened

"Look at me, nagging you. I'm sorry that you have to take on yourself so much responsibility. It's because I was too weak to stop it. I'm sure you'll know who I'm talking about at this point. Here are few things, don't drink like Qrow. Never give up on your friends, keep Ruby safe, watch over your dad and the most important thing, know that I love you."

Yang shook her head with tears in her eyes.

"Ruby, it's your turn. You probably have a lot of questions, but something tells me you know a lot. So I'll tell you about those silver eyes of yours. They give you a power to destroy the grimm. It is the desire to preserve life which fuels the light inside you. Your light comes from The God of light. The names of these Gods are Ashla and Bogan. Light and dark. To activate the silver eyes, a rush of emotion must come, and Grimm must be around. Your eyes are strong enough to destroy them. Yours may be stronger than mine. I bet they are." Summer said smiling. Then she looked like she made a mistake.

"Look at me, not telling you the important stuff. Let me fix that. I love you just as much as your sister. I mean I did carry you for nine months." Summer smiled. "I heard one day in my head that My name is Ruby. I will be a girl. I then saw a vision of you when you were older. Surrounded by friends. It calmed my heart."

"That seems… Weird?" Ruby said

"She told me about it and I said the same thing." Tai said

"Hey It's not weird, I think it's beautiful." Yang said

Summer was laughing.

"I imagine you are talking about what I just said. Well Ruby, it's true. I think you're going to become a huntress just like your dad and I. Yang too probably. Here's some advice, don't get scared to fight an enemy larger than you. It takes brains and brawns to beat your enemies. No one will be able to beat my smart and strong girls. Ozpin will help you if you need it, and your dad. Qrow may take you under his wing."

Summer stopped and shook her head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make that joke."

Tai chuckled.

"What is it?"

"I'll tell you later." Tai said

"So Ruby remember you always have people around you who will help you. Never forget that. I'll save you the nagging I gave Yang, but the same applies to you. I'll have to head off to my mission soon, but there is something I want you to have. It's a memento of me. I'll be taking my Master's lightsaber with me, and I'll be leaving my two with Tai. One for you, and one for Yang. I know you've probably already started to learn about the force, and I wish I was there, but I want you to have something to remember me by. I love you Ruby."

Tai paused the video and went to his room. He knew where he placed them. He got out the two lightsabers, and handed them handed them to Yang and Ruby.

"These were your mother's lightsabers. She wanted you to have them when you were older."

Yang and Ruby turned on the blades. They were Green and Blue.

"Your mother used the three lightsabers together all the time. She was unpredictable."

"This is great." Yang said. She put the green blade next to her old master's lightsaber. Ruby put the blue one on her waist.

"So what were you girls here for?"

"We thought we would surprise you. Why don't we have a root beer float now?" Ruby said

"Sounds good."

* * *

 **Month 11 Day 18**

The council had made a decision about the droids. Thanks to the bug that Karel found, and brought back, digital replicas of the droids were made and tested with the bug hundreds of times. Each time the same thing came back, that the bug infected the entire production.

The decision was to make the code of the droids unique to each legion. So if this happened again, only one legion, and not an entire factory would have to be destroyed.

"Well, it's our compromise." Roni said

"I doubt they would take your plan. It would have been too expensive to make the code unique to individual squads." Ironwood said.

"I don't like how the empire copied our idea so quickly." Glynda said.

"We can't start accusing everyone in our discussions of treason." One of the councilmen said

"I know, but that means we have to be more careful from now on." Roni said.

"We understand. The announcement will be made tomorrow to all Legion heads. Then the public." Another councilman said

"Agreed." Glynda said

The call ended. Ironwood looked at Roni and Glynda.

"Do they seem to be trying to grab power from us?" He asked in a whispered tone.

"Let's discuss that over some drinks." Roni said. She looked around at all the people working. One of them had to be the mole.

* * *

Later that night the three met at Roni's home. She got drinks from them and started.

"How much power did Ozpin really hold over the council?" She asked

"More than we realized." Ironwood said. He finished his first glass.

"They don't seem to like us at all." Glynda said

"Well, I have three seats now, and both of you have one. But we're still not the majority. Not even with Qrow and Jacques. If they want, they can force us to do what they want." Ironwood said.

"How did Ozpin keep them in line?"

"Mistral at first, then it was respect or fear of him." Roni finished, and poured Ironwood and herself another drink.

"We need more allies in the council if we want to be safe." Glynda said

"You can't just place new council members on. None of us can. We're not Ozpin." Ironwood said

"Even after his death his shadow still hangs over us." Glynda said

They didn't say anything and drank.

* * *

Karel was in his training room. He wanted to become at hand to hand combat. So he asked Bora to help him. For the past month they were training. She gave him many sore spots.

They wore light clothing. Karel wore black pants and a white undershirt, which had some blood on it. Bora wore something similar, with bandages covering her feet and fists.

He was getting much better, and now, was going hit for hit with Bora. Karel threw a punch, but Bora dropped the ground on one leg. She kicked up at Karel's face, but he caught her foot.

She jumped using the force of her other foot to send another kick his way. He let go of her foot and jumped back.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Karel asked.

"Not really." Bora said, moving the hair out of her face. She started running towards Karel, when the doorbell rang. She stopped an inch in front of Karel's face.

"Who's that?" Bora asked.

Karel turned his head and saw her fist.

"Really?" He asked. She flicked him.

"Hey!" He said. He threw his Jedi hood, and went to the door.

Yang was standing there.

"Come on in." He said

Bora went to the living room and saw Yang.

"Hey" She said.

"Hey. I'm glad I was able to find this place." She said "So are we going to train?"

"Yeah. Bora and I were just finishing up our sparring match."

"Who won?" Yang asked as they went to the training room. Karel grabbed a cold water bottle before answering.

"Undetermined."

"I got the last hit in." Bora said

"A flick doesn't count." Karel shot back. Bora didn't say anything, but she did have a smile on her face.

Karel pulled out his purple lightsaber and turned it on. Yang pulled out Summer's.

"Did you make a lightsaber?"

"No, this was my mom's."

"I see."

Karel started on the defensive to see how Yang had changed.

She had gotten much better. They continued their practice with Bora watching.

* * *

Roman got his newest mission from Salem. He was going to be her spy in Mistral from now on. One piece of information that they learned was that Vox had made arrangements with the largest crime families in Mistral. That was his way in.

He got a meeting with the three family heads.

Donnner Rosso was one who brought him to the meeting.

"This was you favor, we're even now."

"Thank you so much." Roman said

Rosso, Lumi, and Brand gathered to see Roman's offer.

"I thank you all again. Here's a present for you all, vintage wine, from about two hundred years ago."

"You can't flatter us with wine."

"Fine, so you know the Alliance wants my head. If they catch me, I'm dead, so I decided to set up shop here. But to do that, I have to go through you guys, since you have a monopoly on crime. So I got a few things that your boss would like. It's gotten out that your boss is looking for any information on the Maidens, and whoops."

Roman placed a book on the table.

"Did I just drop my book, stolen from the Jedi temple when it was abandoned, which tells all about the Maidens?" Roman said

"Where did you get this?"

"I have my own contacts. They wanted me to sell this, but I killed them, and took this instead because I have something called vision."

"Our boss will quite enjoy this. We'll remember to thank you when we give it to her." Lumi said

"Now, what about you three, well, I've recently found my old stash, and I got a little sample of it here for you."

Roman took out a poison dust crystal.

This is a new kind of dust, that a certain dust company doesn't want to be found. It's poison dust. And the best part, it's incredibly potent, being able to kill a human with only a shard."

"Impressive. But how much do you have?"

"Ten crates worth" Neo brought out a crate.

"Plus I have all the other kinds of Dust as well, quite a lot of it. Just think of how many weapons you can make, but if you don't accept, it will just go to waste." Roman acted like he was devastated.

"We get it Roman. Do you have anything else?" Brand asked

"Why yes, here you go." Roman pulled out spice. The three looked at each other.

"Do you know how much this costs now a days? And I have a lot more where this came from."

"I think this is enough to wave the regular process. Which city are you going to start up in? You have access to all except Mistral."

"Argus. With the Port closed, people must be feeling down." Roman said with a smile.

"Agreed."

* * *

 **Month 11 Day 29**

Weiss and Karel were getting ready to travel back to Atlus to be with Weiss' family for the first year anniversary of Whitley's death. Weiss needed to be there for her family. Karel was going to be there for Weiss.

Bora asked if she was needed but Karel said no.

"This is personal. I'm sorry, but you didn't know Whitley. They're going to want people who were close to him. I'll see you when we get back."

"Just don't do anything dangerous."

"Look who you're talking too."

"That's why I said that. Where ever you go, trouble seems to follow." Bora said

"Love you too." Karel said. Before he left he kissed Bora. She waved him off.

Weiss and Karel got on his ship.

"Last time we went to Atlus, I almost died." Weiss said

"That was a one off time." Karel said as his ship start to fly.

"By the way, Mom has a new guard from the Grey Jedi. She's been talking about him."

"What's his name?"

"Blair Cielo"

"I've never heard of them. Of course, why would I have? I'm no grey Jedi." Karel said, not feeling easy about it.

* * *

Jet went to meeting spot.

"You're late." Jet said to Echo

"What can I say, it's hard to get away from our target."

"Lazy excuse." Jet got out a file for Echo. It had that his target was expecting guests soon.

"You do wonders. I'm glad I made you my apprentice."

"About that, when will I meet the other members?"

"Soon enough. If we kill this next target, you'll meet with the others." Echo pulled out a wad of cash.

"Does this cover that information?"

"You don't have to pay me." Jet said as she counted the money.

"It's a good way to make sure you try hard. Anyway, buy yourself something nice. Just a few more days before this mission is over."

"Fine. Let's just finish this soon." Jet said

"Of course." Echo left. He went back to the estate of his target. He snuck back in the bathroom, then flushed the toilet and washed his hands. He left the bathroom and saw Klein Sieben walking down the hallway.

"Hello Klein. How's it going?"

"Fine master Jedi."

Echo walked with Klein "I heard some rumors that there are going to be a few guests coming to tomorrow."

"Miss Weiss and her good friend Karel."

Echo swore in his head. That was going to complicate things.

"I haven't seen either of them yet."

"They'll be here tomorrow."

Echo knew he had to put up his best deception tomorrow, or things were going to fall apart. It was a good thing Echo's mask was a different one, maybe they wouldn't recognize him. Tomorrow was going to be a the most important day for his mission.

 _ **Author's Notes: This one didn't take so long.**_

 _ **There was a scene from an Anime that helped create part of this chapter.**_

 _ **The next chapter will be the end of the first year of the War.**_

 _ **Thanks to everyone who reads this story. You are the reason I write. I just want you to know how much you matter to me. Thanks again.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	20. Chapter 19: Snowfall

**Chapter 19**

 **Month 10 Day 03**

 **Echo has been sent on his newest mission, to Assassinate the true Schnee head.**

Echo arrived to the Guild hall. It was an unassuming cave. The other eleven members sat on their seats. Each seat was higher than the one before. The lower the seat, the lower the rank. Echo's seat was the fourth highest.

"Sorry for being late." Echo said. The other assassins looked at him through their masks.

"Is it your apprentice?" The second asked.

"No. I was just finishing up my last assignment."

"Who was it this time?" Sixth asked.

"A hot shot commander. The Empire doesn't give very interesting missions. But it pays well."

"You'll have to share those stories at a different time. The meeting is going to start." The grandmaster said

"My apologies"

"We have a new mission from our patron. She wants us to kill the true Schnee head. We all know Jacques is a false head. To complete this mission, we'll need someone from seats six and above. There is a time limit for this assassination, the one year anniversary of Whitley Schnee's death." The grandmaster stated.

"I'll take it" Echo said

"You just got back from a mission." Fifth said

"I know, but that was hardly worth my time. I want a real challenge for me and my apprentice."

"You seek to make her thirteenth. Have you told her who our Patron is?"

"Not yet, but she will join us. Trust me."

"If she doesn't, you'll have to kill her." Second said.

"I know."

"Then your request is accepted. Go now fourth. Kill the true Schnee."

"I will head out immediately" Echo said

He got up and left in a flash.

* * *

He left the guild hall and saw Jet outside.

"We're going." He said

"Just like that? That was pretty short."

"Do meetings always have to be long?"

"I guess not. Who's our target?"

"Celeste Schnee"

Jet looked at Echo.

"No who's our real target."

"I told you. I do high rank assassinations. You will do lower level missions from mine when you join, but don't worry, lower seats can join higher seats on missions." Echo said.

"I'm not skilled enough to kill a Schnee. What am I going to do?"

"I'll introduce you to Celeste, then tell her you'll be gathering information for me, which is true, just not the type of information that she suspects."

"How are you going to just waltz up to her?"

"She'll greet me with open arms, once she finds out I'm a Jedi." Echo said

"But you're not."

"She doesn't have to know." Echo flashed his lightsaber he took off the Grey Jedi

"Plus, with one of these, I'm not going to be questioned once I flash this a few times."

"So, you do all the fun stuff, and I'm stuck with getting you information."

"Yes"

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 4**

Echo got his ride to Atlus. He was using Alliance material to go there. He used the Commander's last order as his way on. The commander "found out" that the Schnee's were going to be under attack soon, to try to get them to leave the Alliance.

He showed just enough to make sure there were no questions, and he knew the proper protocols and the ins and outs.

Echo and Jet were silent for a while until they landed in Atlus. Echo gave a generous tip to the flyer.

"The Alliance thanks you for your hard work." Echo said.

They left towards the Schnee Estate. Getting there was easy, but they were stopped by guards when they got to the very edge of the property.

"Halt! You're on restricted ground!" The head guard said.

"I'm here as Celeste Schnee's guard."

Two dozen guards came out.

"We've heard that more times than you can count. Now, leave! This is your last warning!"

Jet got ready for a fight, but Echo stopped her. He got out the lightsaber and turned it on.

"I am a Grey Jedi. I'm here to protect Celeste Schnee." The guards took a step back. "There is an assassin coming for the Schnee family in less than two months. I am here to stop that."

"Bring him in. He'll meet with the Schnee's"

* * *

Echo and Jet were let in, guarded by half a dozen people at any time. They were taken to the office of Jacques Schnee.

Jacques opened the door and brought Echo and Jet in.

"I hear you two are here to protect my wife."

"Correct. We have reason to fear an assassin will be coming here to try to kill your wife."

"What evidence do you have?"

"Here." Echo took out the commander's scroll.

"Recently the Alliance lost a commander in a mysterious event. He feared that something was going to happen to him, so on the night before his death, he gave me this scroll, and sent me here."

"Yes I did hear that. Of course there is no way to verify who you are, or any other thing you've said up to this point."

"Then why did you trust me to come in here?"

"Because even if you do kill me, you'd never get out of this place."

"But what if that wasn't my goal?"

Jacques' eyes narrowed.

"Take that mask off. I don't trust a man who hides his face."

"Alright."

Echo took off his mask, and his white hair popped up. He had a scar over his left eye, and that eye was blind. He was wearing another mask, a face mask covering his mouth.

"What's that about?"

"It would be better for you not to find out. It doesn't look pretty"

"Fine. Let's continue. I know a Jedi. I know him closely, how come he never said anything about you?"

"I'm a grey Jedi. Not a jedi."

"What's the difference?"

"I won't stop just because my enemy's weapon isn't in their hands. Cut off evil wherever it shows itself."

"And what of your friend here?"

"She's here to gather information, and to give advance warning."

"And who does she answer to?"

"Whoever needs that information."

"Both of us then. How do I know you were given this scroll and didn't just take it off a dead body?"

"Why would I come here claiming such an easily disprovable thing like me being there?"

"Don't think for a minute I'm stupid. Do you know who's coming to kill her?"

"Have you heard of the Night Blades?"

"Should I have?"

"I guess most would have forgotten about them, but they were once the largest group of assassins in all of Remnant. They caused the last Great War. There was a schism in the guild and they started killing randomly. The battle that started it all was fought by them. They killed each other until they were destroyed. Or so we thought. It turns out that a small group of them survived the fight and revived the organization. They killed the commander. He figured out they lived."

"Can you take one of them out?"

"Most likely, but if not, I'll give your wife enough time to get to safety"

"I'll keep watch over you, but… if you are telling the truth… welcome." Jacques extended his hand. Echo took it.

"No danger will come to your wife. Thank you for trusting me."

"My wife will probably want to meet you now. She's in the rose garden."

"I'll make my way to her now."

* * *

Echo was escorted to the rose garden. There he saw his target. He went up to her, with the guards staying close behind.

She looked up at Echo

"Who are you?"

"I'm your new bodyguard."

"I already have one." Celeste said.

A guard came up and whispered something in her ear.

"Things have changed. You are my new bodyguard."

Echo smiled behind his masks. Eighth did a good job.

"Thank you."

"But who's that?" Celeste pointed to Jet

"She's here to help. You won't see her a lot. She'll be off gathering information."

"Alright, fine, just get those guards out of here."

Echo turned around, and the guards started to leave. He turned to Echo, and she nodded. She left in a flash.

"Now that their gone…" Celeste took out a bottle, and started to chug.

Echo knew how she was going to die. Liver failure. He had just the right poison to deal with that.

"What? I can't have a drink?"

Echo's mask came up to his nose, and he smelled the air.

"It seems like you've had more than one." Echo reached for the bottle, but Celeste hit his hand back.

"I'm mourning." She said

"Depressants aren't normally best suited to deal with depression." Echo said

"Like you would have anything to mourn about." Celeste said dismissively

Echo took off his mask.

"I would say otherwise. I've had this since I was a boy. When an assassin killed my father. Please don't assume things about those who will die for you." Echo put his mask back on.

"I don't know why you would throw away your life for me. Why'd they even hire you?"

Echo flashed the lightsaber. She saw it, then looked away.

"I see. So you're like commander Allusis. A jedi." She poured out the rest of the bottle. "Lot of good you've done."

She got up and Echo followed her. She stopped by a flower and looked at its petals.

"Do you know what plant this is?"

"It's called Lily of the Valley. My mother grew them."

"It's not much, but it's my favorite plant in this garden." She looked at them lovingly.

"I would be careful with them. Make sure no pets eat it. It might kill them."

"I know. Such a small thing having such dire consequences"

She took out a flask, and started drinking it.

"How much alcohol is out here?"

"However much I want."

Echo knew this just got easier, but he had to be careful. That would be his fifth choice of execution. His first was going to take some time, but he had that on his side.

* * *

When night fell Echo was led to a room.

"This is where you will be staying." The butler said

"Thank you…"

"My name's Klein."

"I'll be seeing you around Klein." Echo entered the room, and it was small. No wonder. Just a bed, a closet, a dresser, and a shower in a bathroom.

"Home sweet home." Echo said. He went to his bathroom and noticed it had a window facing out of the complex. "They don't think I'll be escaping any time soon. Now it's time to take off this stupid disguise."

Echo went to the mirror, and took out the contact in his left eye, and cleaned off the makeup all over his face. He placed his masks over his face, then left the room. Guards were walking the house.

* * *

"Where do the heads of the house sleep?" Echo asked

"You only need to know where Celeste's room is. Follow me. I'll show you to it."

They got to her room, and the guard left. He stood outside the room until Celeste came, drunk.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, almost falling asleep before she entered the room.

"I'm here to guard you. At all times." Echo said

"That's stupid." She said, falling down. Echo caught her. He opened the door and dragged her to her bed.

"You need to go to sleep in your bed." Echo said as he set her down and put her blanket over her.

He left the room and closed the door.

"If she's like this every day, she'll be a huge headache." Echo grabbed a chair, and took out his journal. "Might as well do something to pass the time."

Echo started to write down his backstory for this character, and what he had said. He would have to go over it to make sure he wasn't caught in a lie.

Jet came back.

"What did you find?"

"In a week, our patron will be going to be the guest of honor at the museum."

"What's the event about?"

"Donation of art. There is art from a few hundred years ago that we're going to donate." Jet said

"So we have a week to learn everything we need to about her daily schedule before she goes to a massive party."

"Correct."

"How much did this cost you?"

"Not a lot."

Echo took out a small amount of cash and handed it to Jet.

"Get yourself a drink."

"What's this about?"

"Loyalty. It's what I expect." He took out another Lien. "And get me something"

"Fine." Jet left. She wondered why Echo was acting so different all of a sudden.

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 11**

Echo was watching over Celeste. If everything was going to go as planned, this party would get a lot more interesting.

Fleur Noire was talking to Celeste, thanking her for her painting when she noticed Celeste's body guard.

"I see you have a new bodyguard. Is he better than your last one?"

"He's loyal enough. Come, I here you ordered a fine selection of wine for this event."

"That I did. I reserved the best for you Madame."

"Let's open the bottle then." Celeste said. Fleur felt something was about to happen. A waiter walked up to Celeste and had a glass for her. She picked it up, then he dropped his platter. Echo pulled out needles and threw them. Before the waiter was able to pull out his pistol, the needles hit. Echo rushed forward and jumped over the failed assassin. He pulled out the lightsaber and turned it on. The waiter's body dropped to the ground.

"Madame, we need to leave immediately." Echo said.

Celeste agreed.

Fleur didn't feel a strong connection to the force with Celeste's new bodyguard, but he had a lightsaber. She would have to keep a close eye on him. She noticed the bottle wasn't opened yet, so she decided that she would bring it to Celeste Schnee personally.

* * *

Everything went as planned. Echo hired the assassin, arranged for him to take the place of an Alliance spy. But he needed no witnesses. Echo told him that he was going to back him up, but he just needed a quick way to get Celeste to trust him more. It was all part of his plan.

"So that's what you did. How'd you know that he'd make it with the pistol in?" Jet asked.

"You figure out many things when you're a guild member." Echo said.

"Don't get cocky. I have heard a few rumors that there are Jedi in Atlus."

"I can trick people into thinking I'm not real even when I stab them. I can handle myself."

"That happened?"

"We don't have enough time for me to tell you that story. Return to me if you find anything of note. I have the next step to start. Our target will die, but to get the date right, I have to be careful."

"Alright."

Echo turned to leave.

"Do me a favor, and take care of the rat." Echo said.

Echo left. An alliance spy started to flee the scene, but jet caught up with him. She made sure he wasn't going to talk to anyone else, but she kept him alive. She dragged him to a safe house, and set everything for her interrogation.

Echo was glad the safe house was sound proof.

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 16**

Echo started the next part of his plan. He got into the water systems, to check them for any threat. Of course there were cameras everywhere. He had to be careful. He got out a device to check the water for everything. Besides needing a cleaning, the pipes were good.

He checked the water itself, and made a quick insertion to one of the pipes. He knew who was where when. He just wanted to kill Celeste. The poison was incredibly potent, but wouldn't kill in the dose. He would need to come back every day. The water system went to the rose garden.

Celeste would drink in the garden and be there for hours, then she would continue to drink. She was rarely sober.

By the end of the month, the poison would soak into the plants. The hard part was finding a poison that wouldn't evaporate, be detectable, and would not kill the plant, but would be absorbed by it. He found the perfect poison. His specialty. He loved when he had to go outside the box.

After he was done with the water he went to Celeste's side. Echo was sensing she liked him more. She was going over stories about her life now. She was open.

Echo made sure to say just the right words. He loved this mission.

That was until Fleur Noire came.

* * *

"Madame Schnee, My apologize, but we weren't able to drink when we saw each other last time because of that assassin. My deepest apologize about that whole affair."

"It doesn't matter, but it would have been a lot worse without my dear bodyguard."

"Of course. Is he nearby?"

"Yes, just in the other room."

Echo entered the room.

"Madame Noire."

"Hello there." She opened the wine and poured three glasses.

"Let's drink to something different than what we would have before. To our Jedi friend."

"I'm not a jedi. I'm a grey Jedi."

"Little difference." They started to drink, except for Echo.

"You won't drink?"

"I'm still working."

"You can have a drink." Celeste said.

Echo grabbed the glass, and turned around to drink. When he was turned around Fleur got out a stone, then flicked it at Echo. Echo moved his head.

"Nice reflexes." Fleur said.

Echo was glad his sensors were working. He turned around, making sure his masks were on, then placed the glass down.

"Are you testing me or something?"

"Just wanted to see the legendary reflexes of the Jedi."

"Don't try that again, please." Echo said

"I do have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Why do you use needles as weapons?"

"More accurate than throwing my lightsaber. Plus, they don't expect someone who uses needles to take out a lightsaber do they?"

"I heard that Jedi are able to lift huge rocks and stuff like that."

"That's not all the force can do. Some, like myself have a hard time moving rocks, but I have other talents."

Fleur wasn't very familiar with the Jedi. Kadabra never told her much about them, and she only fought a handful of them before.

She still had her reservations, but she couldn't go any further without threatening to expose herself.

She reserved herself to only observing. She left shortly after.

Echo was glad. She was close to finding out. He was going to have to avoid her.

* * *

Later he met up with Jet.

"Did you get all the information yet?"

"Yeah."

"How do you know?"

"Here's the key to his mother's house. It's about ten minutes from here."

"I see. Is he still alive?"

"No. But he did bleed a lot. I spent most of today having to clean up the room."

"How many others suspect us?"

"Only him and the one at the museum. Looks like we're good for now."

"Then my plans can finish up. Inform me of any new information you find."

"Got it." She held out her hand.

"Fifty"

"Here you go" Echo went back to the estate.

For weeks he did the same, slowly poisoning the water in the rose garden. Celeste grew closer to Echo. She gave him one of her rings. She told him to treasure it, so he made himself a necklace with the ring on it.

Echo knew how Ironic it was, her trusted protector was her killer.

* * *

 **Month 11 Day 20**

Echo watched over Celeste in the rose garden. He didn't need to add any more poison. All it will take to kill Celeste would be her to prick her finger against a rose. She had started to drink more recently. It was perfect for Echo.

"What do you think of my roses?" Celeste asked.

"I think their beautiful. It's almost as beautiful as you mistress."

"Thank you for the flattery."

She went to pick the rose up. Echo watched as Celeste's thumb hit a thorn. That's it. She was dead. Echo smiled behind his mask. Another successful kill and it was the perfect day to kill her. Ten days from now was all she had. So he would try to make it as peaceful as possible for her.

She dropped the rose. Echo moved to her, but she stopped him. She put her thumb in her mouth, sucking in the tasteless poison in her. Soon her kidney would fail. It would be blamed on her addiction. Echo planned to leave his persona in shame, but then turn the mission in.

"It's nothing. Hardly a drop of blood."

"Sorry for overreacting." Echo said.

"It's nothing, but it's good to see you care." She waved a hand, and a servant came with alcohol and ice. She opened the bottle and poured herself a glass.

"Come now, drink."

"Alright." Echo took off his masks, showing Celeste his face, not his real face, but the one she thought was his. They drank together for a while. She was out drinking him by a lot. He gave up, and put his masks back on. He wasn't drunk. He just wanted to get her to drink more.

"You're done already? I didn't know you were such a light weight."

"Scotch doesn't agree with me." Echo said. Celeste laughed.

"That can't be said for me." She said as she downed another glass.

Echo laughed with her. "That it does." He knew the answer already. "Where are you going today?"

Celeste though about it for a while. "The wine cellar?"

"No."

She thought for a bit longer.

"I have no idea." She said happily

"Winter."

"Yes! My daughter's coming in today! That's right" Celeste said.

She got up, and almost fell back down. Echo held onto her shirt.

"Thanks." She said.

"We need to get going." Echo said

"Just… give me some time to" She held up her finger, then puked. Echo looked over and saw the three empty bottles. He needed a few more for it to be believable.

* * *

They started to travel to the air field. Celeste didn't stop drinking.

When they got to the air field they waited for Winter's ship to land. It didn't take long. She landed with her squad leading her out. They watched over her until Celeste came out. Winter went to hug her mother. She waved her squad off. They went to the barracks.

Echo introduced himself.

"You've let my mother drink. That's not a good first impression. The last Jedi I met saved my life for no other reason than it was in danger."

"I see you have some harsh criticism for me. But you're right. My most profound apologize. I just don't know how to get her to stop."

"At least you take blame. You have no idea how many don't."

They went back to the house. Celeste hide from Winter in the wine cellar. She got there when Echo was talking to Winter about security. When they turned to around they saw she was gone.

"You've got to be kidding me." Winter said.

"She's probably in the wine cellar."

"After we get her out of it, we need to station a guard there."

Echo didn't say anything. He hoped she drank a lot down there. Especially since she should be feeling sick about now.

They opened the door and found her. She was on the floor holding onto her stomach. Winter ran up to her and felt her head.

"She has a fever." Winter said with a sigh.

"Let's get her out of here." Echo grabbed her. Winter followed them to her mother's room.

* * *

Echo placed her down in her bed.

"Thank you" She said

"I don't like this." Winter said.

"It's just a cold. It'll pass." Echo said. He knew it was a lie, but no one else needed to know that.

Winter left the room. Echo took off his mask and whispered in Celeste's ear.

"Your death is sealed." Echo kissed her "With a kiss."

* * *

 **Month 11 Day 30**

Celeste's condition got worse. Now she was in the hospital. They didn't tell Weiss or Karel until they landed. They rushed to her hospital room.

"It's Alcohol poisoning." Winter said.

Blair Cielo stood in the corner of the room. Karel turned to him.

"What happened?"

"She drank too much for her. It killed her kidney. I'm sorry."

Weiss was mad at him. "My mother is dying because of you."

"Weiss, Enough." Winter said

"Sorry."

"We couldn't stop it. It was too late."

Weiss calmed down.

Celeste woke up. She held her arm out to her children.

"I love you three." She looked at Weiss, Winter, and Karel.

"We love you mom." Weiss said.

"Good." She closed her eyes.

Echo knew those were going to be her last words. A few minutes later, Celeste past on.

* * *

Jacques entered the room after her death.

"Am I too late?" he asked.

Karel nodded his head. Jacques cursed. He had a folder in his hand.

"What's that?"

"This proves my wife was murdered."

Echo tensed up at that line. He was sure he covered his tracks… except for…

"She picked up a rose the day she died. I had her garden tested, and found it everything was covered with a poison"

Echo calmed down. They couldn't prove it was him.

"How's that possible. I checked the water every day. There was mothing"

"Yes, it was nothing. Everyday there was a small amount. I had that garden tested to see what plants should be planted there, but there was something odd. Each week it came back with small amounts of toxicity. Only someone with access to the water could have done this."

"Are you accusing me of this?" Echo said. He moved closer to Jacques, but his target was the door. He sent out the signal jet was looking for. She started to fly to the hospital.

"Something odd came up when I looked you up. No record of you, not even with the grey jedi came up."

"How do you have access to those?" Echo asked. He saw Karel go for his lightsaber.

"I have many ways."

"So you think I murdered her?" Echo looked at the ground, but he was secretly grabbing his needles.

"I think you did."

"You're right."

* * *

Echo said. He tossed his needles, hitting Jacques in his knees. He wouldn't be following him. He slammed open the door then started running. He tossed smoke bombs behind him. Karel was chasing him.

Winter stayed behind, calling her squad in seal off the exits. Weiss looked at her sister.

"Go. I've got to handle things here." Winter said. Weiss ran off.

Karel sent a force push at Echo, but he ducked into a room to avoid it. The patient looked scared.

"Have a good stay." He said as he exited the room. Karel used the force to close the door.

He had to turn off his lightsaber as Echo started tossing anything he could from the hospital at Karel.

Karel jumped over a computer and sidestepped a food cart.

Echo ran up the hospital. It took Karel a few seconds to figure out what he was planning.

* * *

"Weiss, run along side the hospital. It'll get you to the roof as fast as possible. She turned back to her mother's room.

"Winter, I'm going to need your help."

"Got it." Weiss jumped out of the window, and Winter got her Glyphs to move her up. She landed on the roof when Echo opened the door. Weiss fired Ice dust at him, stopping him from moving forward. Karel got to the roof shortly after.

"You're done for." Weiss said

Echo moved to the edge of the roof.

"It's nice to see you all again."

"Who are you? Why'd you do this?" Karel asked.

"We met at Pare. Do you forget? As for why, well, I think you already know why."

* * *

Echo jumped off the roof of the hospital. Jet opened the doors for him. He fell into the ship with a Roll. Karel watched as it flew off. He couldn't do anything.

"How'd everything go?" Jet asked as Echo took the seat next to her.

"It went well. She just died."

"Now we have to get back to the guild hall."

"Yes. You're going to be the thirteenth member. As long as you accept our patron."

"Who's that?"

"They call her Salem."

* * *

Karel went back to Celeste's room. The hospital was a mess. The nurses did their best to calm everyone down, and soon the military came in.

Weiss sat down next to him.

"We failed."

"We did." Weiss looked down.

Winter came in.

"Father's going to be fine, but the killer did damage. His knee won't be like it used to. He'll have to use a cane from now on." Winter sat down in a chair.

"We came here to remember one death, but we lose another person instead." Karel said.

* * *

 **Year 1 Month 0 Day 1**

News quickly broke out. In one year's time two Schnee's were murdered. Weiss swore vengeance on Echo. If she saw him, she would kill him.

"We're going to be here longer. We need to be here for mom's funeral." Weiss said.

"I know. Do you think she saw Whitley?"

"No. She was talking about you." Weiss said.

"I fear this War is a long way from ending." Karel was quiet for a bit. "After I get back, I'll be deployed again."

"Did you fill your units back up?"

"Mostly, but we're going to have more than a few droids."

Winter entered the room.

"I have good news."

"What is it?"

"I'll be moving legions."

"Which one will you be moving to?"

Winter handed Karel a request form.

"Yours, if you'll take me."

Karel signed his name on the form.

"Approved. Will you be bringing your squad with you?"

"I hope to."

"Done. We can replace droids with your men." Karel said

"Karel. Thank you."

Karel got up. "No problem"

Winter saluted him. He saluted back.

* * *

Winter talked to Ironwood.

"Sir, please move me to Legion 122."

"This is abrupt. What's going on?"

"Sir, I believe he's going to need friends by him at this time. He's like my little brother."

"Is this just for him?"

"No sir. I need someone now too."

* * *

 **Year 1 Month 0 Day 13**

The funeral passed, and so did their leave. Karel took the others back with him to Vale. Bora met them when they landed.

"I heard what happened. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you." Weiss said.

Bora and Weiss walked off together. Karel got a call from Roni.

"We've got a new assignment for you. If you'll accept it."

"Where to?"

"Hopefully it won't be a Pare. You have an easy mission, and you're returning to a place."

"Menagerie?"

"Correct. The mission involves testing a new droid out. If it works then it will change the face of the island forever."

Roni sent over blueprints of the droid. It would turn the desert into a forest.

"If we get this started…"

"It would repay the Faunas for the first great war."

* * *

Echo entered the guild hall with Jet.

"Fourth, we heard of your success, but you were found out." Second said.

"I didn't need the character anymore." Echo got in his chair.

"We have decided that your apprentice will become the thirteenth chair. Bring her in." Second said.

Echo got Jet.

"Has fourth told you about us?"

"Yes."

"And you accept our patron?"

"Yes."

"Take your chair then, and adorn your mask."

Jet took her seat, and found a mask on the seat. It was a plain white mask. She looked at everyone.

"You will paint this mask with the blood of your kills. Make any design you want with it." Third said.

Jet bowed.

"Thirteenth, you will no longer bow. You are greater than that." Echo said.

"I understand."

"Come here." First said. Jet came to his chair.

"Extend your hand." First got up, and jumped to the ground. First grabbed Jet's hand, and placed his hand above hers. She felt a sting of pain as First moved his hand away. There was a symbol on it.

"This symbol will allow you to teleport here. It is a gift that our patron has given us."

"Thank you." First went back to his chair. Blood came off her hand. The symbol disappeared.

Jet took her seat.

"We now leave this meeting. Return to your mission." Second said.

Jet placed her mask on. She looked at Echo, and saw his mask was completely red.

 _ **Author's notes: That's the end of the first Year!**_

 _ **Month 0 is July.**_

 _ **That's an Echo Chapter. There weren't that many plot twists, but they weren't needed for this chapter.**_

 _ **Thanks for reading this story. It means a lot to me. Thank you all.**_

 _ **Please review this. I want to hear what you have to say.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	21. Chapter 20: Rescue Operation

**Chapter 20**

 **Year 1 Month 1 Day 05**

 **Yang and Arin are returning to Mistral to find their lost band member.**

Yang got her bag and handed it to Grover. He put it where it needed to go in the van. He placed it next to their instruments.

"So, how's training going?" He asked

"You know, slow." Yang said

"I could beat up on you." Alani said

"Thanks, but no." Yang said. She handed Grover the last bag, and he closed where they were packing.

Arin walked up with candy in his mouth. He held out a bag, and everyone took the rock candy.

"Do we have Lily yet?"

"Nope." Grover said

Lily walked up with a new Bonsai.

"Sorry guys, I just had to add one to my collection."

Arin shook his head. "Let's get in the van."

The bandmates entered the van, and it started to drive away. Arin turned to Yang.

"This time, we finally found out where Dee is. Her tracker finally came back online."

"That's amazing… Oh yeah, sorry to change the subject, but I got a new lightsaber." Yang said

"How did you get another one?"

Yang took out Summer Rose's lightsaber.

"This belonged to my mom." Yang turned it to the side and turned it on. The Green blade hummed.

"So now you've got two lightsabers." Alani said. "You any good at using them?" She added on.

"Not with both of them. I've never tired actually." Yang said.

"I can't teach you that style. I don't know it." Arin said.

"Maybe both of you need a teacher." Grover said.

"I don't have a second lightsaber to do that with." Arin said.

* * *

They drove, talking about their newest song.

"Is it time to bring out Armed and Ready?" Yang asked.

"No, not yet. But… Time to say goodbye… Yeah, that'll be the opening." Arin said

"Loveless War's still popular." Lily said

"But we've done it at the last three tours." Grover said.

"Whatever." Lily said. She laid down and put her new Bonsai on her head.

"Let's not forget what we're really here for."

"Rescue team Smooth." Lily said

"We didn't agree to that." Grover said.

"But it sounds cool." Lily said back

"No it doesn't."

"Alright professor cool guy, whatever." Lily said.

"Alright Lily, settle down." Alani said "We still need to figure out our plan."

"So, let's focus." Arin said

They started to make their plan to rescue the bandmate.

* * *

Across the ocean, in a dark room, was That lost band member. Deedee's arms were chained to the wall. Her eyes dark. The door to her cell was opened again as light flooded the room.

"Hello Deedee." A man said. Deedee flinched when she heard his name.

"I'd rather die than tell you."

"I'm going to find that Jedi, don't you worry. And you will die soon, have no doubt about that either. Both will fall in my hands. Because they know where you are. Jedi can't stand to stay away."

Deedee turned away. He grabbed her face to look at him.

"You will get them killed. You will leave this world knowing that."

He let go of her face.

"They're going to kill you." Deedee said. The man turned around and slapped her. Then he snapped, and Deedee cried out in pain.

"What did you do?"

"Spikes just entered your arms. If those chains are opened, you'll bleed out in seconds, especially in your condition."

He left the room. Deedee let a tear fall down her face.

"Arin, I'm sorry." Deedee whispered.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 10**

They finally left New Mistral to get to where they really wanted to go. They had a one week gap between their last show to their next one. That was when they would go get Deedee back. They tracked it to a small building away from any city.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Grover said

"Always mister sunshine you are." Lily said.

"Yang and I will go in. You three will get our escape route cleared." Arin said

Yang and Arin got up and rushed the building. Arin used the force to open the lock. He moved in and saw four armed guards nearby. They all looked up at Arin and started to fire. Yang and Arin turned on their lightsabers.

"This is going great." Yang said

"Sure is." Arin said. He sent out a force push, making the guards hit a wall, and drop their weapons. Arin sent out orange lightning out of his fingertips.

"What was that?" Yang asked

"Force Judgement. It won't kill, but it will keep them down." Arin said. They moved forward and found an open door.

"That's not suspicious at all." Yang said.

"It may be our first clue." Arin said.

Yang took a step in the room and saw a blueprint of the outpost on the wall.

It was more than it seemed. It was a complete prison. Yang turned and saw a computer screen showing Deedee. It was for cell D402.

"I don't like how convenient this all is. It's probably a trap."

"Seems like it."

"So what do we do?"

"Spring the trap." Arin said.

"We're going to cell block D, floor four, cell two. How far away are we?"

Arin looked at the blue prints and sighed.

"We're in cell block A. Floor one. The four cell blocks are in a circular shape. We're the farthest possible position from her cell." Arin poked his head out and saw six guards coming to their location.

"Do we have company?"

"Yeah." Arin said.

Yang took pictures of the blueprints and sent them to Grover.

Grover called.

"What are these for?"

"You're going to tell us where to go. Arin and I need to get to Cell block D, were right by A…" Yang looked outside "101"

"You're nowhere near where you have to go."

Arin finished fighting the six guards.

"We're moving." Yang said.

* * *

The Warden sat back in his control room and watched as the jedi revealed themselves for him. He smiled.

"Too sentimental for their own good." He said. He sent out a call for Empress Vox. She picked up.

"You again. I told you that if you called me again with a false report, we'd end you."

"I know my empress, but I can confirm that this time I have two Jedi."

Vox was about to turn off the call before the warden sent a clip to Vox of Yang and Arin running down the halls, lightsabers out.

Vox watched it.

"This is your last chance. I'll come by in one week, and if you don't have a Jedi with you, you will pay." Vox started to force choke the warden, but let him go.

"I understand my empress. You won't be disappointed."

"One week." Vox ended the call.

The warden watched as his men were all killed.

"They're worth every cent." Any who weren't dead the warden killed. In all of their armor, there was an electric chip.

* * *

Yang slashed her lightsaber into the last guard. The blade didn't kill the guard. Yang was about to leave when she saw the guard getting shocked somehow. She turned to Arin who deflected a shot back into a guard.

"Arin, Something weird is happening."

"What?"

"Something's killing them, and it's not us."

"Maybe that's why their fighting so hard." Arin looked up and saw a camera.

"I don't like those." Arin gripped it with the force, and tore it down.

"You're almost where you need to be. Go down to the fourth floor and you'll avoid another guard station. Then run as fast as you can and hopefully you'll get to block D."

"This is too easy" Yang said

"We're too close to go back now. This is probably our last chance to get her back." Arin said

"Alright." Yang said, having a bad feeling.

They did as Grover told them and got to cell block D.

"She should be near here." Arin said. Yang found the cell, and used the force to open the door.

* * *

There, arms hanging against her will against the wall, was Deedee. She was a shell of her former self. She had bruises and cuts all over her. Most of her hair was cut off. Her body had almost withered completely away. She looked up and saw Yang.

"Are you here to finish me off?" She asked. Yang looked in her eyes. They were sunken in. She looked like she gave up long ago.

Arin walked in the room and took a look at Deedee.

"What did they do to you?" Arin asked.

"Arin?" She tried to move, but the chains kept her from moving.

Arin looked at a table in the room and saw a key. They used it to mock her. He grabbed it but Deedee yelled.

"Don't unlock the chains, or I'll die!"

Arin nodded and took out his lightsaber. He sliced the chains off, and grabbed Deedee as she started to fall. Deedee started to get up by herself, but she started to scream. She was being electrocuted by something.

Arin couldn't stop it. Deedee fell to her knees, with seconds to live.

"He wants you" She said before dying.

Arin held her dead body.

"We need to get her body out of here."

Yang and Arin heard laughing.

"Too late jedi. You walked right into my trap." The Warden said

The door to every cell opened, and Yang heard the screams of Grimm.

Yang looked out and saw a small army of droids coming to their position.

"We need to get out of here." Yang said.

Arin closed Deedee's eyes. He pulled out his lightsaber. Yang used the force to push down some droids, then started to run. Arin followed behind her. They deflected blaster bolts as they came.

* * *

They moved up a floor, and didn't see any droids.

"We have to get out of here as soon as possible." Yang said.

Arin shook his head.

"I can't believe it, Deedee's gone." Arin said.

Yang sighed.

"It's a shock. But… Wuah!" Yang screamed when she felt something touch her leg. She punched what was touching her leg, and she saw a tentacle. They followed where the tentacle was coming from and saw an Octopus Grimm.

Yang looked at her leg to see if there was a mark while Arin took out his lightsaber and cut the tentacles.

"What is that thing?" yang asked.

"I don't know. We have to keep moving."

Yang and Arin turned, not waiting for that Grimm to follow them. They climbed the floors, taking out Grimm until they got to the top floor. Some of the strongest Grimm filled the floor. Yang and Arin fought the first one, the Gorilla. It ripped out concrete from the wall and slammed it into Yang.

She was slammed into a wall before falling down. Arin jumped on its head, and plunged his lightsaber into its head. Yang got up, her hair almost on fire. She rushed past Arin and sent a punch that killed two Grimm.

Arin was impressed, but Yang got distracted. Arin threw his lightsaber into another Grimm.

"We need to stay focused." Arin said.

Then the Grimm went back into the cells. They seemed angry about it, but still did it.

Arin and Yang looked at each other but decided to take advantage of the situation. They went back to the entrance but were stopped by four HK droids. They had electric staffs.

"This isn't good." Yang said.

"You think I'd let you out of this facility? Do you not realize that this was all a trap to get you here?"

"Who are you?"

"Someone who hates you Jedi. You ruined everything."

The first droid charged forward. Arin turned on his lightsaber. He started his attack on the droid. The other three charged Yang.

"Arin!" Yang yelled. She ducked under one strike, and punched at the droid's body. She took a chunk out of it, but she didn't kill it. She got hit by two staffs. She started screaming.

Arin looked over, and knew he had to do something. He pushed upwards on his lock with the droid, causing it to be wide open. Arin quickly cut the arms, then made three slices across its body, finishing with his lightsaber plunged deep in the HK's head.

Yang felt a moment of levity once Arin force pushed them off of her, but she was surprised, her semblance hadn't kicked in yet.

She got up, shakily but she realized that Arin could get out.

"Catch" Yang said. She threw Summer's lightsaber. Arin caught it, without realizing what it was, then Yang used the force to get him out of the building. After she was hit again. She turned and punched the droid in the chest. She was about to punch again when she felt the other electric pikes hitting her. The droid she punched was still standing. It attacked Yang with its pike. Yang screamed, then fell to the ground. Ulric's lightsaber rolled off her belt. She looked up, but was met with more electricity.

Arin looked back at the building. He tried to open the door but whoever was running this place locked the door behind him. He got out Yang's lightsaber, and started to cut, but turrets appeared out of nowhere. He jumped back, and used the force to crush one of them. There were too many of them to continue this fight. He cursed himself.

* * *

He rushed back to where the others were waiting. Once Arin got in the van they looked at him.

"Go" He yelled

"What about Yang?" Alani asked

"She's been captured."

They had to get back to the Jedi. They would need a rescue team.

"And Deedee?" Grover asked

"She was killed. They were expecting us." Arin said, gripping his knee.

"What are we going to do now?"

Arin sighed.

"Lily, you're appendix broke, or something like that. We need some reason to cancel the tour." Arin dragged his hand down his face. "This is a disaster."

How would Arin tell Yang's Family?

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 12**

Raven felt something was off in the air. She called Vernal to her side.

"Vernal, I feel that something's about to happen. Get everyone ready to run when I give the order."

"Yes Raven."

They got ready but it was still too late. Raven heard it before she saw it. A rocket hit the gate and burst it open. Multiple imperials entered the camp, all firing. Raven knew they couldn't make it like this. A sith warrior got of a motorcycle. She wasn't the empress, but still a deadly sith. She ordered the troops to stop firing. Raven's bandits got ready for the next attack.

Raven moved to sight.

"What is it?" She asked

"I am Lady Culla, and I have been given an order to capture the Spring maiden. We know you're here." She was Chiss. She tried to be polite, but Raven knew it was just a façade.

"We won't give up the maiden. We're all ready to die for the maiden." Raven said.

"That's fine with me." Culla said. Her men opened fire again. Her bandits were being slaughtered. They started to move back towards Raven. A few of her bandits used Smoke grenades, and Raven made multiple portals. The bandits were separated all across Vacuoo and Vale in a series of safe houses. Soon after the smoke cleared up. Raven closed up all the portals except for one. Culla saw that Raven and Vernal were the last two.

"So you reveal yourself." She said. She pulled out her lightsaber, and started running towards them. Raven opened the last portal, and dragged Vernal through. She closed the portal before Culla could get them.

* * *

Qrow had his hand on his weapon when Vernal turned around. She held her hands up.

"What are you doing here?" Qrow said.

"The Empire just attacked us. Where are we?"

"In Goodwitch's office."

"When did she get an office?" Raven took a look around.

"Are you sure we're in her office and not Ozpin's?"

Goodwitch got up and turned to the window.

"Ozpin died." She said

Raven felt shocked.

"When was he killed?"

"Four Months ago, when Salem announced herself. And you weren't here."

The elevator opened with Arin walking in.

"Why are you here?" Qrow asked.

"Something happened… Yang was kidnapped."

Raven grabbed her sword, but she felt that she couldn't get to Yang. Something was blocking her. Qrow looked at her.

"If you can't get to her, then that means this is bad." Qrow turned to Arin. "What happened?"

"Yang and I were trying to save one of my bandmates from someone. I don't know who. They had both Grimm and HK droids. They were ready for us. Yang gave me this lightsaber before sending me off."

Arin showed Qrow and Raven Summer's lightsaber. They both knew what it was.

"So, she'd been given it. Has she made her own yet?"

"No." Arin said.

"And why are you here right now?" Qrow asked

"She sent me flying with a force push out of the building. I couldn't get my way back in the building."

"Then we need to get a rescue team ready." Ruby said. She came up on the Elevator, and heard what happened. Arin turned around.

"Ruby… I failed."

"I know."

"You don't seem to want me dead like your uncle and the other woman. Who is she?"

Ruby looked over and saw Raven.

"I think that's Yang's mom."

"And you must be Summer's kid. A pleasure." Raven said mockingly.

"Don't." Qrow said.

"Fine. I can't get to Yang Wherever she is, she's stuck. I can get a group of twelve outside the building. I don't know if I'm going to be able to bring you back."

"That alright. We're ready to do this." Ruby said.

"Get the team ready. I can't stay here long."

"Alright." Ruby said.

"You're coming with us." Ruby said to Arin.

"Are you sure you want me?"

"Yeah. Yang will want you to help her get out." Ruby said.

"Then we need to get a team ready to rescue Yang." Arin said.

* * *

Ruby called Weiss and Blake.

"What's up?" Blake asked.

"We need to save Yang."

"What happened?" Weiss asked.

"On her last mission she was kidnapped. We're going to save her." Ruby said.

"Alright." Blake said

"What about Karel? Should we tell him?" Weiss asked

"No, He's still working on the Menagerie project."

Ruby tried to reach out to Yang, but felt nothing.

"I hope you're okay."

* * *

Yang woke up. She noticed a humming noise before anything else. She had her gauntlets with her, but not her lightsaber. She was still in her clothes, thankfully. She felt for her hair, and sighed with relief when she felt it was all there.

"Don't worry Jedi, we only took your lightsaber. No need to worry. But in five days, you will wish we killed you."

Yang got up. She was mad. She punched, but it hit a shield surrounding her. The shield hit her back with as much force. She looked at it, and became even angrier. She started punching the shield with everything she had. Every emotion about this war was in each punch.

The Warden got a report.

"Sir, she's almost broke through the shield. What do we do?"

"Nothing yet. Don't tell anyone in the room. If they don't know, then she won't. If it just about to break tell them."

Yang hit the shield with the last of her energy, and her last bullet. She started breathing heavily then she got hit with all the energy she just spent. It felt like someone hit her with a skyscraper going the speed of a semi-truck.

That was all the energy she had. She looked up and was about to faint. She got back up, but she couldn't stand, so she started to meditate. She needed to focus herself. She felt a dark presence fall over her.

She felt that she was going to be saved. But she was going to need to put just as much effort into it as who will save her.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 13**

Ruby got her rescue team. Team RWB, Team JNPR, Arin, and Qrow.

Ruby looked at the team they had. She felt confident in them all.

"Today, we rescue Yang. For what information we gathered from Arin, we know we are going to be facing strong Grimm, and droids. We have a layout of blueprints, but they were lacking, so we can't fully trust them. We know our enemy had a vendetta against the Jedi, for what, I don't know. We can't stay their long, or we risk getting surrounded. We also have no idea if Raven will be able to bring us all back through the portals, so we may be stuck in enemy territory. If we do get stuck, we'd have to find a way out. Any questions?"

Ruby waited for any questions, but didn't get any. She was relieved they didn't ask. She didn't have many answers.

"Alright, Arin and I will go first. We're going to make a clearing for the rest of you." Qrow said. He went next to Ruby.

"Uncle Qrow, this is my debriefing." She whispered to him.

"Yeah, but you were taking too long." He said. He turned to the others.

"Why you two?" Blake asked.

"Because we have the most experience out of all of you. Don't worry, we won't do anything too dangerous." Qrow said.

"Then after they go in, Ren, you and your team will go. Since you can make everyone calm, you're going to go in."

Ren nodded.

"Then my team, we go in. We are going to have to find Yang. After the others deal with everything else, they will join us in trying to find Yang."

"Is there anything else?" Weiss asked

"Nope." Qrow said. He looked at Raven, and she shook her head. She made the portal.

"I can't guarantee I can bring you back. Something may stop me. Be careful." Raven said

"You know me. I'll be alright." He stepped through the portal.

"And you. You better save my daughter. Or else."

"Don't worry. I won't fail again" Arin said.

* * *

After Qrow and Arin stepped through Arin figured out where they were. They were where he had his bandmates stay.

"This may be tricky. They had turrets set up. Is there a way for you to get past them?" Arin asked.

"Yeah, I just need you to distract them long enough for me to get the door."

"Alright. Let's start this."

Arin jumped out of the hiding spot and turned on his lightsaber. The turrets jumped out of the ground and started firing. He started blocking the turrets. He saw a crow fly past him. Some of the turrets started jamming. Arin used the force to crush them. Qrow dropped down from the sky and landed next to the control panel. He pushed a button, and the doors locked up.

"I hate bad luck." Qrow said.

Team JNPR arrived. They saw Arin and Qrow having to fight off the turrets. Nora got ready and jumped into the action. Phyrra took a deep breath and roots started shooting up out of the ground. They covered some of the turrets. Ren rushed forward and cut a turret in half.

"The door's locked up." Qrow yelled.

"I can get it unlocked!" Jaune yelled back. Pyrrha grabbed her weapon and started firing at the remaining turrets. Everyone covered Jaune as he ran to the door. As soon as he got to the door he started to tinker with it. After a minute he got the door open. An HK droid was standing the door way. It hit Jaune in the face. Jaune lifted up his shield to defend himself. A bullet came flying.

Team RWB had arrived. Ruby took out her lightsaber and used her semblance to take out the last of the turrets. Everyone entered the building.

"I see everyone came here to save your friend. Now I have more Jedi. You were unwise to come here." The warden said. The Grimm left their cages. Qrow ran forward. He took out the first three in the blink of an eye.

Ren used his semblance and covered everyone. They were able to walk past most of the Grimm.

"What?" The warden asked. He sent more droids to stop them.

Ruby and Arin used a force push to drop them to the ground, then Qrow ran up and finished them off.

"Arin, can you feel Yang?" Ruby asked.

"Only a small bit. I think you'd be able to sense her better." Arin said

Ruby remembered her special ability. She closed her eyes, and saw the walls were covered in red. She also saw a blue light in the center of it all. She gathered the force in her hand, and sent out a force push against the wall. The brick flew off, revealing that the center of the prison wasn't hollow. The colors lefts Ruby's eyes.

"That's really useful." Blake said.

"Thanks."

* * *

They went inside the inner prison.

They broke open the wall above a mess hall. Arin jumped down first.

"Hello there."

* * *

The stationed guards lifted up their pistols. Arin used his semblance, the manipulation of the earth. The bricks were a good size. He used them and sent them at guards. He hit one of them in the neck. They weren't going to be getting up. Jaune jumped down next. He flipped up a table and made cover for everyone. Pyrrha moved next to Jaune.

"You should start carrying a gun." She said.

"I don't have one." Jaune said. A guard came flying behind them. They dropped their pistol. Pyrrha used her semblance to move it over to them. She gave it to him.

"Now you do." She said smiling. Ren dropped down and got behind the table.

"We've only got four more of them." A pink grenade came flying over their heads. "Make that two."

Jaune jumped up and fired. He got a headshot.

He went back down. "You're a good shot." Pyrrha said

"I had my eyes closed." Jaune said.

"Then you're lucky." Nora said as she rolled to them.

Qrow finished off the last guard.

"Alright everyone, come on. We're not done yet." Jaune went to the bodies and gathered the Ammo.

"Let's hope we aren't too far away from Yang."

* * *

Yang finished her meditation. She felt worry from her captures. She knew they found her. She had been gathering the force, and knew she was going to have to use it soon.

"If you're shield breaks, the whole place goes down." One of her captures said.

Yang knew what that meant. If they found her first, Uriel's lightsaber would be lost. She didn't want that, but she would accept it.

Yang kept gathering up the force in her hands.

* * *

Ruby and her team broke through a locked door. Inside was a single person. A Muscular man. He turned to see them and got up.

"So I finally find the troublesome invaders." He picked up two axes. One was made of fire dust, and the other ice dust.

Ruby got out Crescent rose and got ready to fight.

"Girls, it's time for checkmate." Ruby said.

The Warden charged forward, dragging the Axes on the ground leaving a trail of fire and Ice. Blake and Weiss charged forward. Weiss used a Glyph to propel Blake behind the Warden. Blake used electric dust, and Weiss used earth dust. The Warden took the hits. He didn't seem fazed. His skin seemed to harden. Blake and Weiss jumped out of the way of the Axes. Weiss sent a shard of ice dust at him. It broke on impact.

"Ladybug!" Ruby yelled. She and Blake charged forward. She brought her scythe up while spinning, and landed in his shoulder. He just looked at her and went for the blade. Blake went down low. She used air dust and knocked the Warden off balance. Ruby fired next to his ear. She got her weapon out of his shoulder, and saw it heal itself.

"What?"

He stopped holding on his ear and laughed.

"Have you heard of the saying "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger"? Well, that's quite literal for me. That's my semblance."

Ruby fired at him. The bullet didn't work.

"Do we have any weapon he hasn't been hit with?" Ruby asked.

"I do have one…" Weiss said.

He picked up both Axes and got ready to slam them down. Ruby used the force to get her teammates out of the way. She got sent flying to the wall.

"You've got to use it!" Blake yelled.

Weiss wished she didn't need to. She loaded the Poison dust. She knew she had one shot. She fired, and it came out as a shard, about the size of a pistol bullet. The shard went in the Warden's body.

He started to hold onto his throat. He fell to the ground. He puked up blood. He looked up at Weiss then collapsed.

The Warden died.

"What was that?" Blake asked.

"Poison dust. My father only recently discovered it." Weiss said.

Ruby got back up.

"Are you alright?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, I'm just going to have a few bruises later." She said. Ruby saw something on his chair. She used the force to grab it. It was Yang's lightsaber. She put it on her belt.

* * *

Team RWB met up with everyone else.

"We just beat the Warden." Ruby said.

"We got every room but one. It's where Yang's being held." Arin said.

"Then let's go." Ruby said.

They got to the door. With Arin and Ruby cutting the door with their lightsabers, they made quick work of it. They stepped through and saw the room. It was all centered on a cylinder of light. It's where Yang was. Yang looked up and saw her rescuers and got ready. The guards already left.

"We need to all attack at once." Yang said.

"Got it." Everyone got in position to attack the shield. Yang started by using the force she built up and started punching. Everyone attacked, and soon, the shield broke. The energy exploded. The prison started to flash red.

"Self-Destruct in three minutes."

"Run!" Ruby said.

* * *

Arin went to help Yang. The group rushed past Grimm. Many of them were stuck in the cages. No love was lost over them. Everyone got out just as they got out of range of the explosion.

"Now it's time to call Raven." Qrow said. He made the call then waited. Nothing was happening.

"What's taking you so long?" Qrow asked.

"I don't know. I can't open the portal. You're on your own." Raven ended the call.

Qrow sighed. He turned to everyone.

"Looks like we're stuck. Best start walking." Qrow said.

Yang sat down on the ground.

"I need a moment." Yang said

Ruby went next to her.

"Hey Yang." She said

"Hey Ruby. What did you do with the creep who kidnapped me?"

"Weiss killed him."

"You didn't happen to find my lightsaber did you?"

Ruby smiled and held out Yang's lightsaber.

"You mean this lightsaber?"

Yang hugged Ruby.

"So, which way are we going?" Ren asked.

"There's a town a few miles up the road. We'll start there."

They started their walk.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 14**

At a farm was a 16 year old boy. He woke up and started his daily chores. His family had been growing more food recently since the empire buys most of it.

His aunt went to him after he was done watering the plants.

"We need you to go to town today. The captain has asked if he could stop by later today, and we ran out of coffee beans and sugar."

The boy agreed and took a truck into town. When he was waiting for a train to cross he looked in the mirror.

He looked in it and thought something was different.

"Hello?" He didn't know who he was talking to. Probably no one.

"Hello! I'm Professor Ozpin!" Ozpin jumped. He jerked forward an inch.

"What do you mean? Wait, I'm just nervous. That's all." He sighed.

"I know this may be strange, but you aren't imagining this. You'll understand in time. Quick question, where are we?"

"Mistral, wait, why am I talking? Did you say Ozpin?"

"Yes. I see that this is going to be interesting."

"That can't be right, Ozpin died a few months ago."

"It's alright. We just need to get you out of mistral."

"I'm not leaving." The train finally passed. Oscar drove towards the town. He got a call.

"Hurry up, the Captain just arrived." His aunt said.

"Sorry, just got stuck behind a train."

"Tell Oscar that he doesn't need to rush. I'm a patient man." The captain said

"I heard him" Oscar ended the call. Suddenly a feeling of dread filled him.

"Some thing's not right." Oscar said. "No, I'm just nervous."

* * *

Oscar got the groceries, but he couldn't shake the feeling he had. He started his drive back home.

Once he turned the corner to his home, he saw smoke. His stomach fell. He drove to the house, and saw a fire had destroyed the house. He jumped out and rushed to his house. The captain was sitting on the steps, bleeding out.

"What happened?" Oscar asked.

The captain opened his eyes.

"I'm sorry Oscar… Grimm came… Too many of them." He took his hand off his bleeding side. He placed his hand on Oscar's white shirt.

"She fought bravely. Now, you're… no longer… a shiny." The Captain closed his eyes. Neighbors of Oscar's arrived at the scene, and a lot of the town.

The firefighters entered the house and found the body. They got a body bag, and were about to take it away. Oscar stopped them. He grabbed a shovel and started making a hole. Some of his neighbors joined him. They lowered the body in the hole, and make the grave. Oscar placed a large rock in from of the grave.

Some stayed behind. Some gave Oscar money. They knew he wasn't going to stay here now.

"There's nothing left here for me. Where are we going?"

"We must get back to Beacon."

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 17**

Vox brought a legion with her to clear the rubble of the old prison. The Warden must have died. A pity. Vox wanted his head. She watched as her troops called out about a find.

"We got a body intact."

Vox knew it was the Warden's body.

"Set up an autopsy. Let's see what could have killed him."

Vox watched as the doctor's started. She even helped. When they checked his mouth, Vox saw a shard of something. She got it out and looked at it.

"It's dust." She said "But not any kind we know about."

She put it in a safe place. She got the answer she was looking at. He was poisoned. She put two and two together.

"We just found our enemies secret weapon." Vox announced.

 _ **Author's Notes: Another done. Sorry about not posting. You already know my excuses, so I won't say them here.**_

 _ **Oscar, and the rescue team are stuck in Mistral, behind enemy lines.**_

 _ **Oscar had a Luke Skywalker moment. I know.**_

 _ **If you like this story, tell me. Review this story so I can know how to improve.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	22. Chapter 21: There and Back Again

**Chapter 21**

 **Year 1 Month 1 Day 18**

 **After A failed rescue attempt, Yang was captured. To rescue her, a large rescue party was organized, but found itself stuck on Mistral. Not so far away, a young man started to learn he had a bigger role than being a simple farmer.**

Ruby yawned. Night had fallen, and they were able to get supplies, but they couldn't stay long. An imperial captain was killed by Grimm earlier the other day. The noise of a car was coming close. It was a truck with a young looking man driving.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Just getting back home." Ruby said

"Do you need a ride. It's not safe to be out here at this time of night. Who knows if the Grimm will attack yet."

"I got a few people with me." Ruby said.

"And this truck has a lot of room in it. Come on."

Ruby turned around. Qrow shook his head. Ruby opened the door and sat next to the boy.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Ruby Rose."

He didn't answer, but he looked like he was having an argument in his head.

"My name's Oscar Pines." Everyone came out of the darkness. Qrow and Yang took the seats behind them. Everyone else got in the back.

* * *

"So, I guess you're going to Vale?"

Qrow looked at Ruby as she grabbed her lightsaber.

"I'm supposed to ask you Qrow for my cane back." Oscar said.

He calmed down.

"So, you're already back then Oz?"

"What?" Yang asked.

Oscar's eyes glowed.

"Yes. And not too soon it seems. Of course the fact that I came back in the empire doesn't help. What did I miss?"

"The War's still going on. Salem attacked a few times. The Grey Jedi left their temple and moved to a new secret one. The building was sacked soon after. And the Chairmen are pushing Glynda to her limits."

"I thought they would do that. Do you have any way for us to get out of here?"

Qrow opened the back window.

"Any of you know how we can get back?"

Blake got out her scroll.

"The Pirates can sneak us out. But it will cost us."

"Better than staying here any longer." Qrow closed the window. "We need to get to the port. Pirates will pick us up there. Though it seems we'll have to sell this truck."

Oscar came back.

"Fine by me. I didn't plan on keeping this thing much longer. Too many sore memories."

Oscar was already planning on going to the port. He wondered how much he could get for this hunk of junk.

"Thank you." Ruby said.

"I don't mind." He looked at the gas. They were almost empty. "Looks like we're going to have to stop soon." He said.

* * *

They rode in silence until they got to the station. Oscar got out and started pumping the gas.

"You didn't tell me that Professor Ozpin could reincarnate." Ruby said.

"It's one of his powers. Do you know how old he is?"

"No…"

"Thousands of years old. He was alive during the time when the moon was whole and Magic was common."

"Then how many legends are based on him?"

"Who knows. My best guess is most." He got out of the truck.

"Where are you going?" Oscar asked.

"Need to take a leak. Wait up for me, or don't. I can keep up." Qrow walked into the gas station and bought snacks and drinks for everyone. He walked back and handed the bags to the people in the back.

He felt like something was watching them.

"Be on guard. I don't think we're alone." He went back in and relieved himself. Everyone was ready for a fight.

A grimm came out of the woods. It glowed red. It was a type of lizard. Qrow got his scythe out and ran for it. It spat out coals.

Oscar saw the Grimm. He realized that it could spew fire out of its mouth. If it got to the Gas pumps, it would destroy the gas station.

"Keep it away from the pumps." He shouted. Pyrrha jumped out of the truck, and blocked the hits. Arin used his semblance to cover the pumps with Earth. It cried out in what seemed frustration. Pyrrha fired at it, and it screamed. It got distracted, and that allowed Qrow to get close to it. He made a quick cut and split the Grimm in half.

"Why did it attack here of all places?" Qrow asked.

"Is there another gas station anywhere near by?" Pyrrha asked Oscar.

"No. The closest one would be two towns over."

"Then they were probably planning on destroying the town… but why?" Qrow said. Arin brought the wall down. The man in the station called about the Grimm attack. Oscar got everyone in and they drove off.

* * *

"Why would Salem attack this town? There aren't any hunters in it are there?" Qrow asked.

"How would I know? I don't live here." Oscar said, then something he read about came to mind. "This town was once the sight of a battle. Three hundred years ago a Dark Jedi came to power. He made his home around here. The Jedi attacked, and killed him. The nearby lake has been poisoned ever since by the Dark side. I heard tales that the body is at the bottom of the lake. Salem is looking for bodies."

"And with everyone gone, she would have free reign to look." Yang said.

"Exactly."

Yang though for a moment, then a horrible though came to mind.

"My first Jedi Master was killed by one of Salem's people."

"Then he is probably been revived for her dark purposes. I am sorry" Ozpin said.

"Is there a way to free them?"

"Yes, but it is far from pleasant. You have to kill them."

Yang sank down. She grabbed Uriel's lightsaber. She held her head down for a second and knew what she had to do, when the time came.

* * *

Everyone but Oscar and Ruby fell asleep. Even those outside.

"What would you have done if I didn't offer you a spot at Beacon?" Ozpin asked.

Ruby thought about it.

"I guess I would have gone through like all the other students."

"I guess so, but do you know what effect it would have had on your team?"

"They probably wouldn't be together."

"Maybe. And maybe they would have lost to the Nevermore. Or any of the other trials you faced. You probably wouldn't be a Jedi."

"Why are you asking me all this."

"Let me put this another way, do you like sugar?"

"Yes."

"Well, do you know all the different people involved in making your sugar?"

"Not really?"

"There are those who plant the sugar canes, those who produce the sugar, and those who cut the canes. Imagine if you could control the taste buds, and make it so that they would reject sugar. That would make a huge difference."

"The world would be robbed of Coffee that actually tastes good." Ruby said. Ozpin smiled at her.

"And many other foods and drinks you now enjoy. Now imagine the people who cut the canes. If we never started making sugar, where would they be? And what about those who started harvesting sugar generations ago?"

"I think I get it. Every choice that one person makes has a ripple effect."

"Exactly. Now, why am I telling you this?"

She thought about it.

"Because you want me to realize how I affect people."

"Yes, and this is an important lesson you need to learn. You are a Jedi Padawan. One Jedi or one Sith could forever change the face of the planet, or even the universe. And you are doubly responsible, since you lead a group of huntresses. If you fail them, they fail others. I built this whole system up so that the right people were chosen to protect life from Salem. Have you wondered why Jaune is the leader, and not, let's say Pyrrha?"

"Because PJNR doesn't sound so good?"

"You always amaze me with your wit. Where did you get it from? No, that's not why. You see, Jaune needed to be placed somewhere where he was held to a standard. If he wasn't the leader, I doubt he would still be enrolled in the school. He would have let someone else tell him what to do, and maybe what to think. He wouldn't be friends with his team, and he would have dragged them down. I know Jaune is lacking compared to his peers, but he as a natural creativeness, and a sharp tactical mind. I knew he would swiftly fall into his role. Pyrrha wouldn't have made a good leader, though she is as strong as a fully trained hunter. She's too strong. She would be put on a pedestal so far above everyone else, that resentment would take root. She knew this. She even asked me personally not to be team leader. She knew just as well as I did that she wouldn't be good for the position."

"What makes me a good leader?" Ruby asked.

"To understand that, you must look at your team. Your sister, Yang is head strong and always ready to jump head first into battle. They're always the first to die, and if she led a team, she wouldn't retreat when it was more than obvious that the battle was lost. She would lead a team to their deaths. She needs something to keep her anchored. Weiss' heart was filled with hate and pride. A wise Jedi once said fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side. What do you think this means?"

"She said she was afraid that the white fang would kill her someday. When those close to her started disappearing, that fear became anger. That anger grew into hate. If we let that hate continue in her, she would have abused the Faunus."

"Yes, Weiss would have been a bully and a hypocrite. I think you already sensed that. You were able to see into the hearts of people long before you discovered that you were a Jedi. Blake had the same problem. She was abused by hateful humans. That's why she joined the white fang. That's why she did terrible things in the name of equality. But back to Weiss. That other vice, Pride would only have been made worse. She held herself up to an impossible standard, and she would have held everyone else to that standard. She would have made a division in her team. Because of the abuse Blake went through, she would have been distant. It would have caused an impossible to mend division between her team and her. It would have broken one any pressure was added."

"But you still didn't tell me why me."

"You are concerned with your teammates. You've shown a love to them all. You see, Love is what need to be present for any team to work. You have a love for your sister that is natural. Coming on this mission shows that. And it shows that the others love her too. Long ago there was a term for the connection the four of you have. Shield sisters, sisters in war, and peace. You would be ready to take on the whole world for each other. Only you can fester that type of love. If you remember to your first night, you were the one who made the first step. You tried to mend everything, though it didn't work out just yet"

"So, Love is why I'm the leader?"

"Yes."

Ruby thought about all that Ozpin said before falling asleep herself.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 22**

The group finally got to the port town. Imperial troops were stationed everywhere. Oscar finished selling the car when the pirate ships came into view. Blake knew that they were the ships, but she still hadn't figured out how they were going to get on.

"How are we going to get on?" Arin asked Blake.

"I don't know." She said.

The ships landed at the port. They started to unload cargo. The troops were focused.

"I got an idea." Qrow said.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

"You'll know. Just start moving down towards the docks."

* * *

The group started going down. Ruby looked back and saw her uncle taking out bottles of alcohol. She knew what he was about to do. He got the guards to pay attention to him by acting drunk, and starting a fight.

Bronze and Robin Hamilton stood on the docks, waiting for their pickup. Robin saw Blake first.

"Here they are." She said

"Let's just get them on quick. We don't want the imperials to notice us." He went back to the ship and got everything ready. Blake ran down the dock and greeted Robin.

"We have eleven."

"That's five thousand per head."

"That's not what we agreed on."

"Yeah, but those imperials are around. It's doubt now."

Oscar came up and handed them ten thousand.

"That's I have. We'll get you the rest of your money once we get back to Vale."

"So, just add it to the tab?"

"Yes."

"Hey, we could just ask them to get us a fleet at this point and still get money." Robin yelled to her brother. "Fine, only because you're cute." As Oscar was walking to the ship, she reached down and pinched. Oscar jumped.

"Just take it out of the tab." She said. Oscar's face was red. Everyone else quickly got on. Somehow Qrow got down to the docks, and got on just in time. The ship left port when the captain arrived.

* * *

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't know she would do that." Blake said

"It's fine. Just… keep me away from her. She creeps me out."

The trip across the waters was calm until the night.

"Everyone, be ready. Imperials are doing an inspection." Robin said. She opened hidden storage and made everyone get in them. She forced Ruby and Oscar into the same compartment.

"Why does she like making me uncomfortable?" Ruby asked. She had he hand on Oscar's face pushing it.

"How do you think I feel?" she let go

"Sorry."

They heard the troops board the ship.

"What do we owe this visit to?"

"Standards inspection. Just show me the master list and where you put the supplies, and I'll be done in less than half an hour."

"Good thing we have time." Bronze said.

"No date?"

"We're just hauling metals. Come with me." Bronze led the troop away.

Ruby closed her eyes, then saw they were surrounded by troops. She went up to Oscar's ear.

"Fourteen. Don't move." She silently moved back.

After a few minutes, the inspector came back.

"Just one thing. The list says Iron Ore. I didn't see that."

"Yeah, forgot to 46 that. They quit on us at the last second. Must have forgotten to cross it out."

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Honest mistake."

"I'm just saying because some other inspectors are less forgiving. You can go on your way after we leave."

The troops left. Bronze kicked on the storage.

Everyone got out.

"Now we can take our sweet time."

"What was that iron?"

"You guys. We just needed something." Bronze said.

* * *

 **Month 1 Day 24**

After a long journey, the Hamilton crew landed. They made a stop at a different port first than the one listed. They dropped off their guests at Vale.

When Oscar saw the city, he was shocked. There was still rubble from the battle, and some building still showed the scars of battle.

"Now, we have to get to where we were going. Remember, the Alliance is going to have to pay for that Tab at some point." Robin said.

"We'll tell them." Qrow said.

"Don't be a stranger." She said to Qrow.

He just waved. Ruby looked at him.

"What was that about?"

"I think she likes me."

* * *

Oscar led them to Beacon. Team JNPR went back to their dorms. They went to the headmaster's office. Once the doors opened they saw Glynda and Raven talking.

Yang looked at her mother.

"Yang…"

"Mother."

The tension filled the air.

Glynda broke it.

"Who's this boy you brought with you?"

"We found him. We found Oz."

* * *

An old lady was getting off the ship. She was laughing with Robin.

"Dear, you should right your stories down. I'd read them if I could."

She tapped her eyes with the visors covering them.

"It's alright Grandma. I don't think writing so many illegal stories will do go for me. You need to come back more often."

"No, I've got nothing left for me in Mistral. Besides, my doctor's here. It's no good to be an eye surgeon if you're getting shot at."

"Then it seems like he chose the wrong place to go to."

"No. I don't think so. Quick question, what color eyes did that hooded girl have?"

"Why?"

"Oh, you know me, a nosy grandma. I just want to know."

"I think she had silver eyes."

Maria Calavera knew that the force guided her to this moment. She was going to be a teacher once again.

"Did you catch her name?"

"Ruby Rose I think"

Rose. So the force really was in charge.

"Well, I guess I'm coming out of retirement for just a little bit." Maria started walking in the direction of Beacon.

"Grandma, where are you going?" Robin asked.

"I'm going to go teach that girl my secrets. Just like her Mother."

Maria Calvera, the old force user, Silver eyed warrior, and the Grimm reaper, was going to have one final apprentice. She knew who was behind the war. She knew who was the true enemy. Salem's biggest mistake was killing Summer without killing her. Even though she took away her eyes, she underestimated her. That was her final mistake. Now the Grimm Reaper joined the war against Salem. And nothing was going to stop her.

 _ **Author's notes: Another one done.**_

 _ **So I don't have to make an excuse for this chapter. Actually made it a decent amount of time after my last chapter.**_

 _ **If you want to read more about Karel, I would point you to the other series I've been writing.**_

 _ **As always, review this so I know what to change.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12"**_


	23. Chapter 22: Battle of Mount Glenn

**Chapter 22**

 **Year 1 Month 2 Day 15**

 **After two months of testing, the Menagerie project has proven successful. Now the 122 legion has to return to battle** **.**

Major Pixi entered the meeting, a bit later than everyone else. Commander Allusis started after she came in.

"Major Pixi, thank you for joining us. As you all know, our project has proven successful. We have made ten more miles of habitable land here. Now that we proved it successful, we are going to be leaving and going to trying to stop the Empire from advancing southward. There is a mountain passage that leads to a series of Cities. We'll have to fight them at the base of Mount Glenn. We've confirmed that they are advancing. If the Black Fang arrive, we'll have a three way fight. There are no civilians in the city, so we all weapons are allowed. Any Questions?"

No one asked any.

"Alright. Major Pixi, get the ship ready. We head out soon."

* * *

Pixi saluted. Everyone started to leave the room. Pixi went to the ship. She gathered her division.

"Everyone, we're going to Mount Glenn."

She noticed the people didn't seem to like that.

"Listen. We all know what happened there. We all know that it's one of the few areas left with Grimm. We many have lost people we loved. I understand all of this, but we need to keep the empire from advancing, and Mount Glenn is the perfect choke point."

"It's just… seems so disrespectful." One of the squad captains said.

"Would you rather have the empire move farther south? Make their way into Vacuo, and take out one of our allies?"

"That's not what we want. It's just going to take some time to take it in."

"I know."

* * *

Everyone arrived at the ship. Karel walked up to Pixi.

"Are we ready to take off?"

"Yes…"

"Anything wrong?"

"The men don't like going to Mount Glenn. I don't either."

"I know, I know, but it's the most defendable position. If we are to stop the empire from getting past us, we have to stop them there."

"Is everyone going to be on the ground?"

"It has to be like that. This is going to be a sneak attack."

"We'll lift off when ready." Pixi said.

After a few minutes, Commander Pixi lifted off, and started them on their way. They got over Mount Glenn when they got orders.

"Legion 122, land in the forests."

They landed and marched to the destroyed city.

* * *

Karel met with the commanders for legions 87 and 204. Pixi gathered captains.

"What state are the bombers in?" Pixi asked

"We lost half at Pare, but since then we've been rebuilding our numbers. We've got enough."

"Good. Even though we may not use them, having them will help us more than not."

Commander Bora stepped up behind Pixi

"Can I borrow you?" She asked

Pixi turned around.

"Of course."

* * *

They started walking together. "What is it?"

"We're getting ready for the attack, as you know, but this matter needs a more… womanly touch."

Pixi almost laughed at the thought she was the best person to talk to about this.

"What is it?"

"What colors should we go with?" Bora pulled up a few paint samples.

"What's this for?"

"My wedding. It's going to be in a few months. Karel and I just got finished with what we're going with. Now we've got to deal with the small stuff."

"I don't know. I like light colors, but shouldn't we be more focused on the battle?"

"We have a while. The Empire's a few days off."

"Right, 87 is recon right?"

"Yeah, and they spotted the main force a few days ago. We've got… four days I'd say."

"Then I guess we have time to do this."

Pixi and Bora sat down at a table in a destroyed building looking at colors. "Maybe I should get some other eyes."

Major Violet came up.

"Sir, we've found what you were looking for."

"Good. I'll see you later Pixi."

Pixi went back to doing what she was.

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 17**

The signal went out. The Empire was ahead of schedule.

Winter got her squad ready. She counted how many shots she had in her pistol. She gathered her men and stationed them at the front lines. Her troops got ready. Scout droids crossed into the city.

"Wait." She said. Winter felt her sword. The droids looked around, but they didn't see anything. They kept moving until they were surrounded. Winter called out

"Fire!" Everyone came up and fired at the droids. They were destroyed quickly. It was a mistake. Cannon fire was heard and it ripped thought the front lines. The droids were a distraction. The cannon fire hit buildings, causing more rubble to fall. Winter got out of sight with her men.

"We've got to be careful." She said. She looked out the window and saw white fang troops enter the city. They started going into the buildings. Three entered the building Winter was in. Once they got to their level, one of them deployed a personal shield. After the bullets didn't work, the one behind him jumped over. She brought a flute to her mouth. Her two allies covered their ears. One of Winter's troops placed headphones over her ears. He fell to the ground. As Winter rushed forward, she was stopped by the third member. They didn't have a weapon. They hit Winter in pressure points. She fell down to the ground, unable to move.

He took off the head phones. Winter heard the song. It made her feel tired. How could she feel tired on a battlefield.

The one with the shield took off his mask and went down to look at her.

"Commander, we have our target." Winter, with the last of her strength activated the tracker on her. She fell asleep. The three tied her up and dropped a grenade in the middle of Winter's squad.

* * *

Karel looked at activated tracker. He saw it was Winter, and knew immediately that something was wrong. He got squad 7.

"Commander?" The captain answered the call.

"I need you to follow Winter Schnee's tracker. Get her back here safely."

The Captain took the devise and saluted.

"You'll have her back soon."

* * *

The Captain got his squad together and told them the mission.

"Captain, we're going to have to go through the battle." Said Private Maro. He was the newest member of squad 7. He was a human from Atlus.

"That's what we do Private." Sargent Ross said. He was a human from Vacuo.

"We've got our orders." Corporal Pico said. She was a faunas from Menagerie. She joined before the battle of Menagerie.

"If we're done, let's move out. Masks up everyone." The Captain said.

Maro put up his mask and followed the rest of his squad.

* * *

Karel moved up his troops after getting reports of the tanks.

"Major Pixi, it looks like we're going to need those bombers."

"Already on it sir." Karel saw the bombers flying overhead. They dropped their payload then flew back.

"Major, we're picking up signals. Looks like they were ready for us."

"Send in the fighters." She said.

The Pilots jumped in the ships and launched. They had to do some maneuvers to avoid the ships coming right at them. The squad was named after a legend. The mythical Lightning birds that destroyed a city ruled by a wicked leader, that's what the squad was named after.

"Lightning birds, prepare for battle." Pixi said.

"You got it." Said L.B leader

* * *

Maro looked up and saw the ships fighting. He saw the explosions as the ships started to crash to the ground.

"Keep moving Private." Pico said.

They got to where Winter was stationed and saw the battle raging. Their forces were holding back the empire. The captain ordered everyone to get ready to fight.

"We need to get past the enemy. If we see them, we're going to have to take them out. We can't go down the center of the town." To add an exclamation that point, a mortar round landed in the middle of the ground. "Because that would be us. We've got to use the buildings. Sargent, what do you see?"

Sargent Ross looked and saw an opening.

"Follow me." He said. Squad 7 followed him avoiding most of the enemy fire. An imperial ran towards their direction, and stopped. He didn't last long. Ross took care of him, then tossed him back into the main road. Squad 7 got behind enemy lines through a hole in the walls. Private Maro got behind cover.

"I don't think the enemy noticed."

"If they did we'd be under a hailstorm of bullets. That was the easy part private. Get back up." Pico said.

Private Lisa took a sniping position. She was a human female from Vale. She's a huntress in training, from the year below team RWBY.

The Captain took note of everyone.

"Sergeant Reggie, stay up here with Private Lisa. Everyone else with me."

* * *

The three white fang troops who took Winter were stopped. A man appeared out of the shadows.

It was Reolin Brans. He got out four Kunai.

"Looks like my mistress doesn't want you to kill Winter just yet. So I have to kill you now."

"Black Fang, right?"

"Yeah." Two more black fang troops appeared. Reolin threw the Kunai, then rushed towards them.

The first one created the shield and blocked the Kunai.

Winter woke up, and saw people fighting around her. She found a Kunai on the ground. Her hands were bound in rope. She started to cut the rope before anyone noticed. She noticed six alliance troops coming up as she finished cutting the ropes. She noticed they were squad 7. White Fang and Black Fang alike stopped fighting and turned to the Alliance troops. More Black Fang troops appeared from the shadows, with White Fang matching them. Six verses six verses Seven for Winter.

The Captain handed Winter a pistol.

"The rest of us are around making sure we have a clear way back." The Captain said.

"You're not going anywhere." The White Fang leader said. She made sure her gloves were on secure. The tips of the fingers were made of Dust.

The Black Fang troops got out their weapons.

Winter glanced back and forth.

She lifted the gun up and fired. It was blocked.

Corporal Pico was watching for the Captain to come back. He sent back the signal that they found her. She sent the message to the Commander that they found Winter, and they got ready for the fight to get her back.

She looked to where the signal came from and saw that there were more people than expected. She decided that it would be best if they got Winter out of there before the rest of the empire arrived. She got the smoke shots ready but before she fired, she got found. She ducked behind a tree, which got shot immediately. She pulled out a shock grenade and tossed it. She pulled out a pistol and took a quick look. Only one of them were a droid. She sighed, the fired her first shot. She was pinned down.

Winter used her Glyphs to make the enemy slow down. She went behind him, and shot him in the head. His body started to dissipate. He was Black Fang. He dropped a sword. It wasn't the type she used, but beggars can't be choosers. She grabbed it and spun around. It was caught by the woman with the dust gloves. She crushed the blade in her hand.

"Luckily for you, we need you alive. You'll get us quite a few troops back." She said. Her glove came down and scratched Winter. Her face was freezing. Her hand met her face and knew that it was ice dust. The blood was freezing to her face. Winter had little more than a broken knife to fight with. She jumped back and used her glyph to make an enemy she fought. Out came a large Sphinx Grimm. It roared and charged forward. She jumped on its back. She fired her last bullets, then used the pistol as a club like weapon. She got blasted off the Sphinx by a stray fighter shot. She was flung into the rock wall.

* * *

L.B 10 was going to crash. He knew it, but he couldn't eject. He was falling towards a twist in the rock face. It was going to be a choke point for the battle. He saw fighting on it. He saw imperials, so he fired. An imperial ship was behind him. It hit him, blowing up the cockpit, sending out the wings of the ships flying towards the battle. Another bolt hit where Winter was, killing the Sphinx. The wing hit the ground, Private Maro.

Maro got hit by a burning wing of the Atlesian fighter. He was slammed into the rock wall, with metal puncturing him. Sargent Ross came rushing over.

"I'm a goner." Maro said. Blood covered his face.

"You're squad 7. We beat death time and time again."

"Not this time." He raised his pistol and fired. A white Fang troop dropped to the ground.

"Thanks." Ross said.

"Give these to my mother." He coughed up blood. "Tell her I went down with Honor."

He handed Ross his dog tags. He faded, and Ross closed his eyes.

"You got it." Ross stood up and found the nearest enemy. He punched them, then slammed them in the ground. He fired six rounds in their head.

"Get Winter. We need to get out of here!" The Captain said.

Ross moved forward, with a Sargent Violette Next to him. They rushed and got to Winter. She was holding onto her leg.

"I think it's broken."

"Then we have to careful." Ross said.

Violette got her Crossbow out, and fired it at the ground. There was a wall of Ice created.

"Looks like that's all we were needed for." Reolin disappeared, but not before killing two white fang troops.

"Call the Commander. We need a drop ship to get us." Ross called out.

"I think that's wise." The Captain said.

Karel got the message. He authorized a dropship to get them, then went back to fighting. The Empire was starting to slow.

* * *

Karel was getting reports that the Grimm were fighting the Empire. He wondered why Salem wanted to attack the Empire.

Pico fired her last bullet. She was bleeding hard. She lost the use of her left arm. She was surrounded. She breathed heavily, and went for her explosives, but saw a ship coming. It shot at the imperials pinning her down, and landed. It was Squad 7. She got up and got on the ship. She took her seat and almost fell asleep. Eventually they got all of squad 7, and got back to the base with Winter with them.

Karel fought off the last push. Soon, the battle was over, and the empire had to retreat.

"Where's Winter?" He asked.

"With the rest of Squad 7, in the infirmary."

Karel turned off his lightsaber and went to the infirmary. He saw Squad 7 hurt. He even saw one of them dead. It was the first death in Squad 7 in the War so far. Winter lost her whole squad. She just found out.

"Commander…" she looked away.

"I understand. You don't have to say anything."

Sargent Ross stood up.

"Sir, Private Maro gave me his dog tags to give to his mother."

"Than that will be your next mission. You all did well out there. We fought the Empire back. We proved once again that they won't always win."

"We don't need motivating speeches sir. We need time. We've gone back to back from one assignment to another. We're all exhausted." The captain said.

Karel sighed.

"I know. This isn't fair. I've put you all in to too much danger so often. I'll try to get us an easy station."

"No sir. We haven't seen our families in so long. We need to see them."

Karel shook his head.

"I see. Well then. We'll take one month off. The War will still be raging at that point. I may even have the perfect post for this team… the Hot Springs of Vytal are to die for." Karel said

"Thanks Commander." The Captain saluted.

Karel left and met up with Bora.

"What did you find?"

"The Black Fang was here. They were fighting for us to keep Winter."

"What's Salem's plan?" Karel asked.

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 18**

The 122 legion arrived in Vale. The Men were authorized to go home for a month, then come back. Karel got back home and saw Ruby first, by accident.

"Ruby, how're you doing?" Karel asked.

"Good… Have you seen an old lady? She's got visors, a bit on the shorter side?"

"I just got back. Why are you looking for someone?"

"Because I'm supposed to meet her around here. She said she was going to train me how to use my eyes, just like my mom."

"No clue."

"Oh, yeah, master Roni asked me to tell you that they want to see you in the temple."

"Did she say what for?"

"No, but that was recently. I don't know." Ruby looked at her scroll and sighed.

"She just cancelled our lesson. She said she's got some eye troubles. So, you want to go to the temple now?"

"Sure, why not." Karel said.

* * *

Ruby and Karel walked together to the Jedi Temple.

"I'll wait for you in the Library. I found this cool book."

"Alright."

Karel opened the door and saw a young girl.

"Hello masters." He said with a bow.

"Hello Jedi Allusis." The Grandmaster said.

"I was asked to come."

"Yes, you were. It involves this girl who's with you. She was found shortly after the death of Professor Ozpin, and has been let into the Jedi order. She has meditated with us, and we have come to a single conclusion. You are who the force has called to be this girl's Jedi master." The Grandmaster said.

Karel was taken aback for a moment.

"Are you sure?"

"Would you like to confirm it?" Roni asked.

Karel closed his eyes, and saw her life story. Her name was Rouge. He opened his eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I have seen it as well." Karel looked at Rouge. She looked at him, and he saw a vision of her in the future. She was a fox Faunus, with red hair. She smiled at him, and he smiled back. She was fourteen, or fifteen. She must have gotten some jedi Robes from that robe maker, since she wasn't in regular robes. They looked much more comfortable.

"Well, that went better than I though." Roni said

"If the Force wills it, it happens. I've learned that much." Karel said.

"I'm Rouge, though you probably already knew that."

"Yeah, but that just means that we got the pleasantries out of the way. Come, I've got a friend outside who's waiting to find out what this was all about. Do you have a lightsaber?"

"No…" She said

"Well… I guess we're going to have to fix that at some point soon. Don't worry, you'll fit right in with my group of friends. Karel led her out of the chamber room.

* * *

Ruby came around and took a look at Rouge.

"Who's this?" Ruby asked.

"She'll be my Padawan. Her name is Rouge."

Ruby looked shocked.

"You have a padawan?"

"Yeah, I guess." Karel said while putting his hand behind his head.

"There's no guess about it. We're stuck together." Rouge said.

"Yeah… Come on, you need to meet Bora." Karel said.

Karel got to his house and opened the Door. Bora was starting a workout when He walked through.

"What'd the council call you for?" She asked.

Rouge stepped into the house. When she saw Bora she made a slight bow.

"I've got a new padawan."

 _ **Author's Notes: Got that one down. I wanted to focus more on the troops for this battle. I rarely do anything with them.**_

 _ **I'm going to make this one short. Keep reading my stuff please.**_

 _ **May the Force Be with You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	24. Chapter 23: Ruins of Vettom

**Chapter 23**

 **Year 1 Month 3 Day 21**

 **Karel defended the Empire's attempt to go past Mount Glenn. After he was assigned to become a Master to a young Jedi girl named Rouge. After the last battle Legion 122 was assigned to investigate a strange Ruin in the Vacuo desert.**

During the month long break from war, Rouge went with Karel to complete her first trial. She smiled when she got her Kyber crystal. Karel helped her build her lightsaber. It was a simple design, meant for a more practical use than anything else.

Karel entered her room and saw her putting her crystal in her lightsaber. She turned on her lightsaber, and a green light came out of it.

"Good. Now you don't need my lightsaber anymore." Karel said.

Rouge took out the yellow lightsaber and handed it back to Karel.

"I've completed my first step to being a Jedi." Rouge said.

"Yeah, you have. Come now, we've just landed." Karel said.

Rouge clipped her new lightsaber to her belt. Bora was standing outside the door.

"Look Bora, I did it." Rouge said.

"Wow, soon you'll be able to take this old man down." She said playfully tapping on Karel.

"You're older than me." Karel said. "And besides, if I was getting to be old, I would have a beard."

"You're not doing that." She said.

Rouge smiled.

* * *

Gael walked out of the ship first. She scanned the area, but didn't find anything. Xar came up behind her.

"What is it that we're looking for?" Xar asked.

"I don't know, but we had reports of the Empire snooping around this area. Commander Allusis will know more than me." She said. Troops started to leave the ship. Xar walked to a Pillar in the sand. He felt a wave of the Dark side.

"Gael, I think I found something." Xar said.

Gael walked over and looked at the pillar. Xar put his hand out and started to channel the force. The Pillar started to rise out of the ground with a shake. A door rose out of the ground, with a skeleton in the door way.

"Get the Commander out here."

Karel walked up to the ancient temple.

"We never scanned this before. It must be an ancient Sith temple." Six grey Jedi came to the entrance with their troops coming with them.

"Looks like the empire found it first." One of them said.

"Let's go, we're going to leave a tenth of the troops behind. Major Onyx, you're going to stay here."

Onyx took the place of Major Roy. He saluted and ordered his men to stay.

Only half of the 122nd was with Karel. The other half was guarding Vale.

Two grey Jedi stayed behind to raise the temple back up when they needed it to come back. Karel started the trek into the temple with Rouge and Bora next to him. They descended down the stairs and found a room with multiple stone statues. They heard the door at the front of the temple close behind them.

* * *

"Looks like we're stuck down here." Xar said

"You're not the only ones" A voice came out of the darkness.

"Wait, I know that voice." Karel said. He turned on his lightsaber, and all the lights in the room turned on. Lord Soule was standing in the room, with Sno, both having seen better days

"What happened here?"

"There's an ancient Sith buried here. We tried to find out more about him, but we ran into a problem. We can't fight if we're going to survive this place." Soule said. Karel looked for troops, but didn't find any.

"Where are your troops?" Karel asked.

"Some are dead. Others trapped. Don't split up." Soule said. A door slammed shut behind the group. Karel turned around.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"Squads 40 to 43 just went through a door."

"They can't even listen. Be careful. Every room has traps lying in it." Soule said.

Screams could be heard.

"And that's why we don't split up. Here's something I noticed jedi. This place is built like the tombs on Korriban.

After some of the troops entered into the chamber, the Door behind them closed. Xar and Gael were with Karel and Bora, but the Grey Jedi got separated with them, along with half of the 122. The stone statues started to make noises and they started to move.

Bora took out her pistols.

"They don't have weapons." A troop said.

"Doesn't matter." Soule said. He turned on his lightsaber.

The arms on the statues started to fall apart, and metal came out. Vibroblades came out of the arms of the statues, and their mouths opened. Metal pipes came out. Something came out of the mouth and fired out bullets. Karel blocked the shots and rushed forward. He jumped up and slammed his lightsaber down, cutting a statue in half. Rouge turned on her lightsaber and rushed forward. Gael and Xar got ready. Soule quickly cut one in half. The troops fired at the statues, and the stone was slowly shot away. The statues were droids. Soon, though with some trouble, the droids were destroyed.

* * *

Karel turned off his lightsaber and went to the droid. He checked them, and noticed that they were hollow. Karel reached his hand in the hull of the droid. He felt something, and pulled it out. He pulled out a rib bone. Rouge took a step back.

"I see." Karel threw the bone to Soule. He caught it.

"So, looks like all the servants for the Sith became it's guards."

"That belonged to a Miralan, so whoever this Sith was, he brought others with him." Karel said.

"Commander…" Major Violet came up.

"Yes?"

"We lost twelve in that attack."

"I see… That's a lot worse than I hoped for. Have we been able to open that door?"

"No sir. It seems that the Grey Jedi have taken the troops down two separate paths."

"I see, well we can only hope for their success now." Karel said.

"Where's Zia?" Bora asked

"Right here." She called out. She looked at Bora.

"So, we meet again. Sorry about not lending a hand, I just needed to stop those hounds from getting to us." Zia pressed a button, and there was an explosion nearby.

"How long have you been in here?"

"Two days now."

"But we didn't see any sign of you above the temple." Karel said.

"Probably Salem. We figured something out about this temple. The largest part of it is in the center, and all ways lead to it. It's probably where the Sith Lord rests. If anyone goes down there, he'll be able to take over their bodies."

"Where did you find that out?"

"Follow me. We have a lot to learn about." Soule said. Karel and his people followed Soule.

* * *

They got to a room that looked like a library. The lights were on, and the air in here seemed fresh.

"As long as we're in here, or one of the other three spires, we won't run out of air. Come to the wall." Soule grabbed a glow rod and walked to the wall.

The wall was covered in Aurebesh.

"Look familiar?"

"By the force." Karel said under his breath. He read the prophecies of the Sith'ari and the Chosen one.

"What are these doing here?" Karel asked.

"The Sith came from our Galaxy. Looks like he did more than we thought possible. Look right here."

The word was Semblance.

"He has a Semblance, though he was born in our galaxy. Keep reading." Soule said.

Karel kept reading. He read of a prophecy of a "Priestess of Ashla and a Priestess of Bogan going to war."

"The Moons of Tython, what do they have to do with this?"

"I don't know." Soule said. Rouge came up to Karel and looked at the wall.

"What's this?" She asked.

"This is called Aurebesh. It's writing from the galaxy that the Jedi order originates from. Probably an ancestor language to Remnant basic." Karel said.

"Do not get comfortable little one. If you do, this place will be your grave." Soule said.

"I'm not afraid." Rouge said. Soule kept reading.

Zia came up to Soule and handed him a Scroll. He opened it and read it.

"I see now." He closed the scroll and out it in away.

"What was that?" Karel asked.

"The powers of the Maidens."

"Why do you want to know about the maidens?" Karel asked, moving his hand closer to his lightsaber.

"That's for us to know."

Bora came to Karel.

"Do you remember that piece of paper you had at the Jedi temple?"

"About semblances? Yeah, why?"

"I think we found the whole context."

Bora handed Karel the text. He read it.

"Legends talk about a Jedi and a Sith who once obtained aura and semblances. They received these through an the elixir of the Gods. A rare elixir that even we haven't found much of. The Master made us look. We think we have found it, though it may be wrong. There are three beings who embody the light and dark sides, along with one who keeps both in check. These three seem to be the Key to the gaining of an aura…" Karel put the journal away and ordered his men to get ready to leave. Some of the troops took some of the books and scrolls.

"We'll have to thank the Sith Lord ourselves." Karel said.

"If we want to get out, probably. If we could find a map in here, then we'll know where we're going." Soule said.

"Men, look for any map we can find in this place. If we're lucky we'll find the one we need." Karel said.

His troops started taking the books of the shelves, and the scrolls. They looked, but they found nothing. A few more books were taken.

Sargent Violette brought her hand up and moved towards Karel.

"Here we go." She unwrapped the scroll she was holding and laid it in front of them. Karel looked over the map.

"Well, let's hope the Grey Jedi are doing better than we are."

* * *

One of the Grey jedi, Auron Artis opened a door. He had the men come in with him. There was a single mummified body in the center of the room. After three squads entered the room, the door closed behind them.

"Men, separate. I don't like this."

"Jedi…"

"Sir, did that corpse just speak?" One of the troops said.

"Good, I wasn't the only one hearing that." He took out his lightsaber. The blue light lit up the room. The mummy took out a red lightsaber. It rushed forward, and ended up with its lightsaber jammed a squad leader's chest. Its fingers cut holes in his neck and it sucked his blood. Color was returning to its face.

"Blood."

Auron spun around and tried to land a hit on the creature, but it blocks the attack.

"I need Blood"

* * *

Karel saw six strange markings across the Temple. They were unique. Soule looked over and nodded his head.

"So, we that's where they are?"

"Where who are?"

"Those markings are for the apprentices of the Sith Lord. We killed two of them, but it seems like to open the way to the main entrance, we're going to have to kill all of them."

"How do we know the Grey Jedi haven't killed them yet?" Karel asked.

"There have only been two shakes inside the temple." Soule went back to the wall. Rouge came up.

"He's lovely." She said.

"He wants to kill me. This is the second time we've had to work together to survive."

"Where are we going next?"

"I guess we go after the next apprentice."

* * *

Auron was the last one. The mummy returned to their human self. He blocked the attacks, but he was getting tired. He got a hit on the Sith, and she got one on him.

"My master will enjoy your head" She charged at Auron, He ducked under the hit, then rolled under her legs. He brought his lightsaber behind him, as he cut the left leg off the Sith. She dropped to the ground, and Auron cut off her hands. She turned.

"Strike me down."

Auron plunged his blade into her heart. The Temple began to shake, as the blood from the Sith poured on the floor, flowing in a pattern. The door opened up, and more troops entered. They saw the sight and were shocked.

"We need to find a way to get to the others." Auron said.

Auron took the lightsaber with him as he left.

The temple shook.

* * *

"That's another one down. We only have half of the apprentices to deal with. One more on our half, and two on the other half." Zia said.

"Then we better get to the next fight" Xar said.

"It's going to be better than being stuck in here a minute longer." Gael said. She put two books into her pouch and left the room. Soule led them to where the third apprentice was. All the force users, and the Mandalorians entered the room, with some of the best troops they had. The door closed behind them, and they all turned on their lightsabers.

"Heresy." The Mummy said. It got out two lightsabers and rushed forward. Karel and Soule blocked the attack. Gael and Xar used the force to push the apprentice against the wall. Zia and Bora tied up the apprentice. Rouge and Sno rushed forward and went for an X cut. The Apprentice turned into dust in front of them.

The imperials were on edge. Every became uneasy and they knew it wasn't done.

They heard it before seeing it. They turned around and saw one of the troops having their blood being sucked out of them. The apprentice dropped the body and quickly cut two more troops down. Gael and Xar rushed forward, and stopped the attacks from continuing. Zia fired her blaster in its body. It hit. Blood came out.

"That's the real one… right?" She asked.

"Only one way to check." Soule said. He jumped over Zia and spun in the air. The Apprentice pushed Gael and Xar back to block the attack. Karel rushed forward, and plunged the lightsaber into the apprentice.

"Is it dead?" He asked. The Apprentice slumped its head. Karel took out the lightsaber, and the body sat there, not moving.

It's head shot up, but Soule sliced the head in two.

It collapsed to the ground, blood coming out, and the temple shook again.

* * *

The grey Jedi stationed outside the temple watched as it started to move up. They weren't using the force. The tip of the Temple was now visible. A small amount of light was able to puncture the darkness of the entrance.

"Soon, they'll have this thing completely out of the ground." One of them said.

The sky turned dark all of a sudden. Everyone turned around and saw the legendary swordsmen. The grey jedi took out their lightsabers, and got ready for the fight. Major Onyx ordered his men to stand ready.

The user of Oblivion stepped forward holding onto their sword.

"I killed Ozpin. Who among you thinks you can stand to me?"

No one responded.

"Just as I thought." He rushed forward, slightly touching twenty troops with his sword. They all screamed in agony.

Carmine Angel, master of Eclipse rushed forward and cut down another twenty troops. The user of Fate came and took out even more troops. Major Onyx knew this would be the end of his division.

"Die well!" He yelled. He just wished he knew why they were attacking. He didn't have much time to think as the sword Silencer entered his chest.

Salem brought back her swordsmen.

"They're still in the temple."

"I know, but they won't make it out of there, but if they do, what's the chance of them finding what I've hid." She held up a book with a single page missing.

She put the book back on her bookshelf and turned back to the seer. She sent Grimm to revive the dead and to bolster her army. She was going to use them for a special purpose, and with two more force users, it was going to be easy.

* * *

Karel went to the door of the Sith's chamber, and noticed it was surrounded by more of the sentinels like before. As soon as he entered the room they stood up, and all the stone fell off them. Twenty metallic hounds came out of the ground.

"This is where we got to, before everyone died." Soule said. He turned on his lightsaber and used the force to grip one of the Hounds. He crushed it. The beast's body leaked oil.

Karel created a shield as a metal hound bit down. Karel jammed his lightsaber in the hound. It screeched, but Karel forced it off his lightsaber. It stopped moving.

"Let's hope the others are doing better." Karel said

* * *

Grey Jedi Teal was a faunas used to terrain like this, but not the constant traps. She got separated from the others and now had to lead her troops out of here. She found a door and opened it. When she opened it all she saw was a mummified body. Her troops entered the room.

One of her troops took off their helmet and looked at the mummy.

"Blood" The mummy said. The troop tried to step back, but his head was cut in half before he could move away. The mummy picked up the half, and brought it to its mouth, drinking the blood. It dropped the head then got up. It got up and took out a lightsaber.

Teal force pushed the mummy. It blocked the hit. She sent rocks at its way. It used the force to crush them. It turned on its lightsaber and pointed at Teal.

"Jedi"

She turned on her green lightsaber.

"Everyone, be ready for an attack."

The mummy rushed Teal. She started to block the attacks, but she couldn't find a good way to get a hit on the creature. They were both primarily force combatants, but she didn't have enough to work with yet. Then she remembered her semblance.

She smiled, and pushed the Sith back. She put her hands together, and a bubble was created around the mummy. It started to shrink. It tried to get out but the bubble was too strong. She ordered her men to get ready to fire. They made a circle around the mummy, and she dropped the bubble. The troops fired. Only a small fraction of the hits landed, but even so, it caused the mummy to start slowing down. Teal took out a knife and used the force to send it to the mummy. It didn't block it, and it was pinned to the wall. Teal walked over slowly, and saw that it was still alive.

"Execute it." She told her troops, and she took its lightsaber. She walked back, and watched as the troops killed the mummy. The temple shook more. The doors opened and the remaining group started walking to where the red glow was leading them. They saw the others fighting droids and robotic dogs.

* * *

Auron beat them there. Now, it all depended on the last group.

The temple shook again, and only two people came through the doors this time. Sergeant Ross, and one grey jedi.

Soon the hounds and droids were defeated. Everyone looked around at the survivors.

"Looks like this is the last room. Let's be careful. We've lost a lot of people today." Karel said. He looked over at the door and saw a few more troops coming.

"We found them!" one yelled.

Most of the separated troops were gathered together now.

"Alright sir, what's our next order?"

"We need to finish the mission. The Sith should be on the other side of this door." Karel said

They looked in the room and saw four mummies, all pointed at the center of the room, where a sarcophagus laid.

"Can you guess where the Sith is?" Bora said.

"We could fire from here." Zia said

"I doubt that would work. They're already moving. It must have taken too long for us to get in there. They have no patience." Soule said. He took out his lightsaber and walked in.

"I guess we have to go in now." Karel said.

Xar walked in before the other Jedi. He went up to one mummy, and started to fight it. Gael went to his side. Rouge followed Karel as they started their fight. The troops did their best, but after they went in the room, more droids arrived. They fought them while the force users fought the last of the apprentices.

Karel finished fighting his opponent with a quick slash across the chest. He looked up to see the others finishing off the apprentices, and the droids started to shut down. The room began to shake. The sand started to fly towards the center of the room. Then the lid to the Sarcophagus flew off.

* * *

The body looked almost like it never died.

The man started to float in the air, then he landed on the ground. His hair was grey, his eyes yellow. His skin white, like Salem.

"You have defeated all my apprentices. That shows your skill. I am Darth Vettom! Member of the Dark Council!" The walls shook. He outstretched his hands, and two lightsabers came flying out of the walls. He turned them on and landed on the ground.

Soule took the first step.

"History forgot you." He said. Zia got ready. Sno was a bit afraid, but was ready to stand with her master.

"Did it now? I guess the Emperor failed then. No matter, I didn't need him." He turned on his lightsabers. One was red, the other was black.

Karel took a step forward.

"We will stop you here and now."

"Is that right? Well then, jedi, come, Fight me!"

Vettom charged Karel. Karel blocked the starting attack, but it knocked him off center. Soule saved him when he sent out force lightning, taking Vettom's attention off Karel for a moment. Xar threw his lightsaber at Vettom, but he blocked it. He didn't think it would do much, and he was right.

Vettom knocked the blade back.

"Looks like I can't focus on just one of you." He said. His body started to split in two. Each body had a lightsaber.

"Here's my Semblance." Vettom said. "Separation, I call it."

* * *

They prepared to fight Vettom. He charged at Karel and Soule. Soon Karel realized that Vettom was slower. Karel was able to keep up now.

Gael and Xar came up and joined Karel. They were able to keep up with the Sith, and even start to push him back. After Karel pushed him back he twirled his lightsaber and pointed it at him.

"You'll die for good soon."

"Is that so?" He asked. His eyes glowed for a moment, then the ground under Karel shook. Two hands shout out of the ground, and started to drag him down. Karel slashed at the ground, and cut a small hole in the ground. He looked into the hole, and saw the most horrifying sight he'd ever scene. It wasn't real, but that didn't matter. The blood…

Karel felt something hit him, and he saw Bora flying him away. When he landed he looked at his lower half and didn't see any blood. He knew for sure it wasn't real.

"That was horrifying." He said.

"What'd you see?"

"I can't describe it." He tried to get himself to move, but he felt a force blast make him hit the wall. Vettom didn't want to give Karel any air to breath. Gael came up and slashed him on his shoulder. Vettom's armor took the hit. Karel dropped down. He looked up and realized that he would have to deal with what he saw later. He charged forward, and right before hitting, he jumped over him and tried to get a hit on him. He turned around and blocked the attack. That's when Karel used the force to bring his purple lightsaber, which he 'dropped' after he hit the wall, to him. Vettom turned around, and spun to avoid it. It hit his side lightly, burning him. He held onto his side, then sent out a blast of force lightning. Karel took the full force of it, and hit the ancient coffin. Rouge jumped up and tried to slash at Vettom, but he just grabbed her by the face and threw her into Karel. Karel got up enough to catch her.

Soule wasn't doing much better He was on the defensive against the Sith. The grey jedi helped him, but one of them must have taken too much of a beating. He didn't last long against Vettom.

Zia got behind him, and fired the rope, but he quickly got out of it. He grabbed onto it and pulled Zia towards him, but Soule rushed forward. He almost got a killing blow, but Vettom turned around. The lightsaber went through his side. Vettom was in pain, but not dead. He grabbed Soule by the throat and slammed him into the ground. Sno jumped and landed a hit on Vettom. He turned around to see her shaking. He used the force to pick her up and throw her at his sarcophagus.

Sno looked at Rouge.

"This sucks." She said

"Yeah." Rouge said.

"My name's Sno. After all this is over, we're going back to enemies."

Karel got up.

"You're still on that?" He said. "Get over it." Karel jumped back into the battle.

"Rouge." Rouge got up, but fell back down.

"Looks like we're going to be sidelined today." Sno couldn't move.

Xar got three good hits in on Vettom.

"You're better than a regular Jedi. Where you Sith before?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll have to kill you."

Vettom rushed Xar. He could tell that Vettom was starting to tire out.

Gael jumped behind Vettom and slashed at his hand. He almost lost his hand, and the lightsaber, but he was quick enough that he only last a finger.

"That was good."

Gael and Xar sent out a large force push, sending Vettom away.

At the same time Teal and Auron pushed the other half of Vettom in the same direction. The two bodies collided together, and they reformed into one body. Everyone charged him. With all his injuries, and the exhaustion, he was almost out of energy. After everyone slashed at him, they took out his red lightsaber.

* * *

Karel rushed and landed a strike against his back. Teal hit him along his chest, but not a hit that killed. Xar cut off his arm. Soule came up to him.

"Are you a Darth?"

"No, only a Lord."

Vettom laughed.

"Then let my last action be this! I Darth Vettom, of the Dark council name you Darth, Dark lord of the Sith!"

Soule sliced through his chest.

The temple shook. Every door opened. A hidden door opened, and sunlight shown through it. There were two rooms off to the side. One was a treasury, the other an armory.

"Let's leave this place." Karel said. Darth Soule left ahead of them. He called for Recon Zero. They came quickly. Soule, Sno, and Zia left.

* * *

Karel walked out of the temple, and he saw dead bodies. His men were massacred, their bodies lying everywhere. There were fewer men than before. Only one was left alive. He saw fading.

"The Black Fang appeared." He died right after saying that. Karel closed his eyes. Rouge looked around.

Bora came up to Rouge. She looked around. Bora put her hand on her shoulder.

"This is what war is like. Lose, for a hope of victory." Bora said.

"Is it worth it?" Rouge asked.

"Not all the time, in fact most of the time it solves nothing, just a waste of life. Sometimes it makes things worse. Karel and I both know that first hand."

Karel came over to Bora.

"Onyx is dead." Karel handed Bora the dog tags.

"Then we have to start again."

"And we've got to report back what happened here."

* * *

 **Month 3 Day 23**

Karel and Bora walked in the high council room. The Grandmaster and Roni were the only ones who were physically there. The others appeared through hologram.

"What happened?" Roni asked.

"The ruins were a temple to an ancient Sith, Darth Vettom. He was a former Dark Council member."

"Did you defeat him?"

"Yes, but it cost a lot of my men, and three Grey Jedi. We weren't the only ones there. The empire beat us there. We only found three left alive when we got there. Soule, his apprentice, and the Mandalorian with them." Karel said.

"Vettom had a semblance." Bora said. The masters looked at one another. "He called it separation. He split his body into two versions of himself."

"This is intriguing. Did you find anything else?"

"There was library. We've been bringing them here for them to be added, though I suspect that most of it will become forbidden." Karel said

"That will be determined later. Now, how was the Sith defeated?" Master Ray asked.

"We fought alongside the Sith. We were able to defeat the Sith, but he named Soule a Darth." Karel said

"That may shake up things in the empire." Master Brock said.

"Probably not. Soule isn't the type to lead a country. He wants to fight more than anything." Karel said

"You seem to know a lot about him." Master Ray noted.

"He's tried to kill me more than once. And we've had to work together more than once. I know it's odd."

"And how has your padawan been taking this new life?" Roni asked.

"She's been learning a lot, and rather quickly. She'll get to the level of the average Jedi of her age quickly. She's been taking to the ways of the force quite well actually." Karel said.

"And she's the sweetest." Bora added.

"Good." The grandmaster said. "Refill your ranks. We'll send more people to learn about the Sith."

"The Black Fang killed my men on the outside. I think Salem doesn't want us to learn about something in that temple." Bora said.

"Noted." Roni said.

Bora turned to leave, but Karel stayed there.

"Karel, do you have more to add?" Roni asked.

"Yes, we found a prophecy about a war between the 'Priestess of Ashla, and Priestess of Bogan' What, or who is that?"

The masters looked at each other with Confusion.

"We don't know." The grandmaster said.

Karel bowed and left.

* * *

Soule walked into the throne room. The thrones were more like command chairs. It could bring up holograms. It was the most technologically advanced chair on the Planet.

"Darth" She said, mockingly.

"Empress" Soule took out a book from his pack. He handed it to his sister.

"This book tells us everything we need to know about the Maidens." Soule said

"Except for who they are." Vox said. "Did you get anything else?"

"The Alliance took most of the knowledge, but not all. I found our largest clue as to how we can obtain semblances."

Vox turned to her brother.

"The God of light had a place where people went before the destruction. He gave all their semblances." Soule brought up a hologram of painting of a fount.

"If this god gave these people powers, does he have a connection to the force?"

"Who knows."

Emperor Sym walked into the room.

"We're one step closer to attacking Atlas."

"What?" Soule asked.

"We turned an Alliance council member. A member that well help us walk right into Atlas."

 _ **Author's Notes: This chapter's got a lot of plot important things.**_

 _ **I wanted to get another one out before the end of the month.**_

 _ **I've thought of doing a RWBY Chibi chapter (on the side of course.) Just something that interests me.**_

 _ **Please review, follow, and Favorite**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	25. Chapter 24: The Siren's Palace

**Chapter 24**

 **Year 1 Month 5 Day 4**

 **Ren and Nora walked the streets of Vale. As the winter months begin again, the war has slowed down. They were able to take some time off together**

Ren walked down the street holding walking towards Nora. She was looking out for Ren. When she saw him, she waved. He walked over.

"So, where are we going today?" Nora asked.

"Why not go to the Emerald forest?" He asked.

"No, everyone goes there." Nora said

"If we go there, maybe we won't be found and go on any missions." Ren said.

"Yeah… but we don't have our weapons."

"We won't need them. Trust me, I already have everything planned." Ren said.

Ren and Nora went to the Emerald forest, alone. Ren brought with him a picnic basket. Nora followed closely behind with a large backpack. They found a spot, and started their picnic. Ren and Nora talked about their lives since the war began. Ren took out a small bottle, and two small cups.

"Sake?" Nora asked

"Yeah. Hey, we're both 21." He poured the drink in the two cups. Ren drank and sat back. Nora drank with him as well.

"So this is what my father liked. Got to say, not the most impressive drink." Ren said

Nora smiled.

"But that's not what we're here for." Nora said

She grabbed Ren's hand.

"When are we going to tell the others we're dating?" Ren asked

"I don't know. Whenever you want to tell them… They probably already know" Nora said.

* * *

Sometime later, Ren and Nora got up. Ren took a step towards a tree, and his knee was entirely engulfed in the ground. The ground started to shake, and a hole around Ren opened. Ren quickly got a grip on dirt, rocks, and a root. Nora came over to him quickly, and got rope out of the bag. Ren grabbed onto it, and climbed up. After he got back to the top, he turned around quickly.

"How deep is it?"

Nora took out a glow rod, and tossed it down the hole. After twelve seconds, they finally saw it hit the ground.

"You want to get Phyrra and Jaune here?" Nora asked.

"I think that would be best." Ren said.

Jaune and Nora came quickly with extra supplies and all their weapons.

"What were you guys doing out here?" Jaune asked.

"We were on a date." Ren said.

"I see… so how deep is it?"

"It took twelve seconds for out glow rod to hit the ground"

"So that's just over 20 meters down." Jaune said

"Something like that. There may be a zero in there." Pyrrha said.

"So, who wants to go down the hole?" Nora asked.

"Let's go."

* * *

The hole was much closer to Phyrra's estimation. They climbed down the hole, and Nora picked up the glow rod, and found candles hanging on the wall. She took out a lighter, and lit the candles.

"I wish Weiss was here." Nora said. When she lit the last one, they all started to glow. There was a flash, and the room was completely lit. The candles were gone. They saw a wall with writing on it.

"What's this?" Ren said.

"Ashla and Bogan?" Jaune said.

"What's that?" Nora asked.

Phyrra heard the answer in her head.

"These are the name of the Gods."

"How do you know that?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know." She felt a sharp pain in her head, and her left eye changed Color. One emerald green, the other Amber brown.

"Don't worry, you're friend's still safe. I just need to talk to you so you won't die. This is a dangerous place. This place was once the home to what we call the Sirens." Phyrra said, with her voice changing a little.

"How is this happening?"

"My soul is separated in two pieces. Until it is reunited, I am stuck in between life and death. My name is Amber, by the way. Your friend can feel everything that's happening to her, and is in control, just so you know." Amber said. She let her hand out, and an apple came out.

"This is what happens if we're careless." She tossed the apple down a hallway. Fire blasted out of the walls.

"Can't we just leave by climbing back up?" Jaune asked

"I doubt it." Just at that moment, two mole Grimm came out of the ground. Phyrra's face changed back as she got out her lance. She took care of the Grimm quickly. Jaune went to the rope they used to come down and watched as it fell to the ground.

"Looks like we're stuck here." Jaune said.

"Looks like our date night just got a lot more exciting." Nora said.

Ren shook his head. He was about to take a step into a hallway, until Amber reached out her hand.

"Don't, only a maiden can show you the way here. And I can only show you one way."

"What do you mean?" Nora asked

"This is a palace. It can only fully opened when all four maidens come together." Amber said. "So good luck opening it"

"So, there's almost no chance of this getting completed?" Ren said

"It was only meant to be opened when Ashla and Bogan were needed to be called, so no, it was never meant to be opened." She said.

"How do we get out of here?" Jaune asked.

"… If I remember, we need to go down… that way." She pointed at the wall.

"That's a wall." Nora said.

"That's what we wanted you to think." Amber touched the wall, and her hand went through it.

"A hologram." She said.

* * *

She started to walk down the hallway, followed by the rest of team JNPR. They walked down the hallway as Amber just kept walking. She turned around, to see the others looking at the walls.

"They tell the names of all the other fall maidens. Thousands of names, and the time they were the maiden. Some names are burned away… those were my evil names." She went to the last name on the walls, her name.

"And mine… It's ended, but now, unending. Because some of my soul was stolen, and half given, a crack has formed. This shouldn't have happened. Who knows how this will end… What am I saying, I know how it will end. My two halves will fight for the power, and I'll cease to exist."

Phyrra came back.

"She didn't tell me which way to go, but I did see a map in my mind, for a moment." She pointed another hallway.

"This place has so many random hallways." Nora said.

"Only those who know the way, or have the maiden's soul know how to get out alive." Phyrra said.

"Who knows besides you?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know where that came from."Phyrra said flustered

"It's probably this place. All this has been happening since we got here." Jaune said.

"I know… but we need to figure out how to leave." Phyrra said.

They heard a noise. They looked up and saw centipede Grimm.

Ren got his weapons out, but Phyrra stopped him.

"But…"

"They're just going to observe. Find the way for Salem."

"Why would we let her learn the way?" Jaune asked. He turned his sword away.

"Because she never really learns the way…"

After they turned the corner, the Grimm burned. They fell to the ground.

"This palace of sirens has been a place of light and dark. Parts where Grimm are plenty, and places where light destroys Grimm. So, why is it called the palace of Sirens?" Phyrra asked.

* * *

They looked at the walls as they followed along a path. It was different somehow. Phyrra stopped at a wall. She tapped on a wall, and it opened. They saw stairs. Ren, Nora, and Jaune went up to them. The wall came back down. Jaune turned around.

"You have to leave. This is your only chance." Phyrra said.

"But we can't leave without you." Jaune yelled back. His hands bashed against the wall. Ren and Nora grabbed him and dragged him up the stairs. They were at the base of Beacon. Oscar was standing in front of the door.

* * *

"This is a trial for Phyrra." Oscar said.

"You knew this would happen?" Jaune asked.

"Not until you entered the temple, but now, she's probably going on the trial of Autumn. She can't finish it, but she can get half of it done. My past life was wise to make a failsafe. But thankfully, she can't unlock it."

"What's it?" Jaune asked.

"Well… that's complicated. Come with me to my… Goodwitch's office, and I shall tell you there, all about that place."

* * *

Phyrra turned around.

"They're gone now. So let's get this trial done with." Phyrra said. One door opened. Inside the room, it felt cool. The fall aura filled the room. She saw wheat all over, with apple trees, and pumpkins. She thought she smelled pumpkin pie.

"What's happening?"

"You're smelling something, right? That was my favorite part of this room as well. Just be careful. More than one maiden learned that the hard way."

"What do you mean… we can die here?"

"Yes."

Phyrra looked around the room. It looked like a puzzle needed to be solved somehow.

"What is this, a video game?"

"Funny, no, this is much like a Jedi training room. Only, we have to make it through without the force."

Phyrra went to the wall. She noticed the bricks that made up the wall having different colors. She raised her hand and the plants pushed the bricks out to make stairs. She started to climb them, and saw that there was a door on the second floor. She also saw that there was an invisible floor behind her. The second floor was covered in vegetables. She carefully took a step on the floor. She half expected that her foot would fall through the floor. She walked over to a potato plant, and pulled it up. It was already cooked.

"What? How?" Phyrra said.

"Don't ask me. I don't know. Half of this stuff in here was stuff I never touched."

Phyrra took a bit, and smiled.

"It tastes even better than when my mom made it. I can taste the butter… but there's no butter."

"You may want to put it down." Amber said. Phyrra followed the advice, and put the potato down. It was tasty, but now that she thought of it, it's probably not safe. She went back to the door and opened it. She took a look at her second trial. It was going to be harder than her first.

* * *

Oscar left the elevator with Jaune following close behind. Goodwitch looked up, confused.

"Phyrra has started her trials in the Palace of Sirens. She won't be able to finish as she currently is."

"So, tell us what the palace of Sirens is." Jaune said.

"The Palace of sirens is an ancient temple that I, along with the first maidens, that we changed to make it a training ground for maidens. It used to be a place that certain Women came to become prostitutes. That's why there called Sirens. Seduce married men then steal then blind."

"That's it? They were just prostitutes?" Ren asked

"Almost completely. Over ninety percent of them were, but then there were the last ten percent. They were the true sirens. They were more dangerous and effective than the mafia. They took money from the lower ninety percent, and used it to find things. If anyone complained, they were made to disappear. They created a prophecy that is being unraveled today. Only recently did I learn what it meant. Ashla and Bogan…"

"That's the second time we've heard that name today. What is it?" Ren asked.

"Well… I think you should return another day students. You've learned enough for today." Oscar went to a book on his wall, and he went back to Ren. He handed Ren the book, it was a history of the Sirens.

"I guess your old headmaster is giving you some homework." Oscar said. His eyes changed color.

"Oh hey guys, so… it's good to see you all… but I've got to go." Oscar had control of his body again. Team JNR left with him.

"Where are you going?" Nora asked him.

"Training with Ruby and Yang. I'm going to be late." He said the second half quietly.

Ren was reading the book. "This is… graphic."

"It is?" Oscar's face went red. "I didn't know."

Nora looked over and read a chapter. She turned around with her face red as well.

"I think we're going to need to talk about what you read." Nora said.

The doors opened and Oscar walked away quickly. "Why didn't you tell me what was in that book?"

"I'm thousands of years old. I guess that sort of stuff has no effect on me anymore." Ozpin said.

"Yeah, well, I'm 17, so it does affect me." Oscar said.

Nora smirked as he left.

* * *

Phyrra went into the second room of the palace. It was a room that was perfect for her powers. It was filled with plants. She jumped down into the room. She noticed that she was starting to sink.

"Watch out for that. There is no floor here, and the drop is quite a fall." Amber said. Phyrra made the plants form under her feet. It felt like solid ground. Phyrra was able to make the platform she made move with her. She was careful to keep her focus.

"It's like walking on a wire. If you use too much energy, you won't have enough energy to make another step, use too little, and you'll fall to your death." Amber said

"Please stop talking… This is hard to control" Phyrra said She was able to make it across to a platform. There was a cup of cold apple cider on a pedestal.

"Is this okay to drink?" Phyrra asked.

"Yeah. It's just apple cider. Thankfully those who made this palace into our testing grounds were kind."

She took the cup and drank it and got her breath.

* * *

"So, why's this place called the Palace of Sirens?"

"Because this was once the used by a rival group called the Sirens. Most of them were just sex workers, but those at the top were real threats. Ozpin, and all the maidens had to take them down. They were dangerous enough that even Salem worried about them. She created the Apathy Grimm to fight them in particular."

"Apathy Grimm?"

"Don't worry, the silver eyed warriors took them out… I think. They take away your will to fight until you lose the will to even breathe. We fought them here, and in all there other strongholds."

"What did they do?"

"They collected magic and history."

"How can you collect magic?"

"At that time, there was still small pools of magic in the world. They created a device that captured that magic. Ozpin should still have most of those devices. His canes are powered by them."

"Canes, he only has one."

"Now, but that's because his original cane is being used already."

"I don't understand."

"That's because it's holding Salem in her realm."

"This is a lot of stuff."

"Yeah, but I bet we'll be here again."

Phyrra finished the drink, and got up. She got ready to take another step.

* * *

"This part's going to be a bit more difficult." Amber said. Phyrra looked up and saw all the roots die.

"A bit."

"I believe in you." Amber cheered. Phyrra focused, and out came a root from the below her. It shot to the other side.

"Now this will be tight walking." Phyrra said.

"Yeah… with a few other things."

"Like what?"

"An axe falling from the ceiling, cutting the root."

"You've got to be kidding me?"

"Then there's the fire."

"Who made this?"

"Ozpin…"

Phyrra's hand came to her face. She took a deep breath, and knew she didn't have much time. She charged up the root. The axe came down, cutting through the root. Phyrra jumped with all her energy, and gripped onto a ledge. Fire blasted above her head. After it stopped she climbed up and took a breath.

"So… you aren't going to get through the next room." Amber said

"How do you know that?"

"Because you don't have the powers to clear it. That's with my other half."

"So how do we get out of here?" Phyrra turned around, worried she'll have to take the long way.

"You don't have to do that… but you won't like how you get out of here."

"Why?"

"…"

"Amber… Why won't I like it?"

"Because… it's really painful."

A pillar came out of the floor, going right below her chest. She looked confused.

"Place your hand on it." Amber said. Phyrra did as Amber said, and saw a blade fly through it, taking her blood. She fell to the floor.

"What the..? Who… why?" Phyrra said, holding onto her hand.

"This is something the Sirens came up with."

"So why do we still use it?"

"Because we don't know how to get rid of it. The walls shook, and a door opened.

"Where's this going to lead me?"

"Just down another hallway. I think you'll go through the library on your way out. I think we should get a certain book out of it."

Aloe plants came out of the ground. Phyrra made them wrap around her hand. Amber showed Phyrra where to go to find what she wanted. When they got there, Phyrra saw the library. It was huge. Thousands of books and scrolls.

"It's on that table."

Amber pointed out a table, so she went to it. Phyrra found a book.

"What's it about?"

"Ashla and Bogan. There is a prophecy in there that you may be living through."

"There's a prophecy about the war?" She asked surprised.

"Maybe… I think so, but I may be wrong. I did jump the gun a lot on this sort of stuff. But at the very least, it should tell you about the Priestesses of Bogan and Ashla. That Jedi friend of yours would love to have this information… just don't bring him here."

"Why?"

"It's not safe. This place can tell when Jedi enter it somehow, and it seeks to kill them. Probably something left over from the Sirens."

Phyrra came across a large scroll. She grabbed it, and wrapped it around her shoulder.

* * *

She went back to where she last saw Jaune. The door was opened. She exited the temple with Jaune waiting. When she got up, he smiled. He ran over to her, and looked at her hand.

"What happened?"

"Well… I sort of got stabbed."

"You what?" Jaune grabbed her shoulders "What happened? Are you okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. It barely hurts anymore." The Aloe had done it's work. She loved the attention she was getting from Jaune.

"We need to get you to a doctor."

Gael walked up.

"Did you say you need a doctor?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Jedi knight Gael, and a doctor, show me what the injury is."

Phyrra started to unwrap the aloe.

"What are you doing here?" Jaune asked.

"I got asked to come here by that Oscar kid." Phyrra looked at her hand, and it was almost completely healed. It looked like just a bad scrape.

"Well… this isn't bad. Give me your hand."

"Alright." Phyrra gave Gael her hand. She used the force to heal up the rest of the wound.

"This should be impossible… right."

"Well, it was just a scratch. I don't know why that Oscar kid was so scared."

"But there was a hole in my hand."

"Impossible… unless… can I see that plant?"

"Sure. It's just aloe."

"We'll see. Here, my card. Visit me in… two days, and I'll tell you what I found. Do you mind if I take a blood sample."

"Yes."

"You're right, that won't do out here. Can't get a sample." Gael got out a cotton swab and glass vial.

"I need some DNA." She said.

Phyrra reached up to her hair, and plucked out a strand.

"Ah, that'll do." She put the swab back, and placed the swab back where she had it. "See you later." She turned away.

"What was that?"

"An impromptu doctor's visit." Phyrra answered unsure herself.

* * *

Jaune started to walk with Phyrra to Beacon, but she stopped.

"We should visit Karel and give him this." She moved the book in her hand.

"What's in it?"

"The answers to his questions I believe. I hope…"

"And that scroll you have on your back?"

"Something told me that I would want to take it."

Jaune looked at her quizzically. "You don't have the force do you?" Jaune asked jokingly.

"No, most likely not. Besides, what good would that do?"

"Well, Ruby and Yang became Jedi."

"Alright." Phyrra stopped right before she knocked on Karel's door. She looked over at Jaune, and felt a childlike joy coming from him. He looked at her, embarrassed.

"Are you going to knock?"

* * *

Karel was doing his workout. He was doing pushups now, while Bora was cleaning her armor.

"Three hundred forty two." He was only a few away from his goal.

"Only eight more." Bora said.

"You know, you could join me." Karel said. He went down for another one.

"Are you calling me fat?"

"No. Of course not." He smirked as he went down for another push up. Bora got up and walked over to him. She placed her armor down next to him. He went for another pushup and looked up.

"Yes?" He asked. Bora stepped on his back, and sat down on it. He fell close to the ground.

"Do you say I'm fat now?" She asked angrily.

"Seventy five Kilos?" He asked.

She slapped him.

"I'm only sixty eight Kilos." She said. She grabbed her armor and sat as he struggled to finish his pushups.

That's when they heard a knock at the door.

"Are you expecting someone?" Bora asked.

"No." Karel said, rubbing his back. "How do you wear that?"

* * *

He went to the door and opened it. Jaune and Phyrra were standing there.

"Hey guys, what is it?"

"I got a book that I think you'll like to read." Phyrra handed Karel the book. He looked at her, eyebrow raised.

"And that scroll?"

"Can I open it at that table?" She asked.

"Of course" Karel let Phyrra and Jaune into his house. Bora grabbed her armor, and was putting it away when Phyrra came in. She turned around and waved as she was putting away her armor.

Phyrra opened the scroll, and it showed blueprints. It was a suit of armor that would be impressive for today. She looked at Jaune, then back at the scroll. Karel noticed what she was thinking.

"I see. Well… that may be a good idea."

"What?" Jaune asked.

"But he would probably need to make a new weapon."

"That's alright. We're in a war, so it'll be easy to find someone who'll make it."

"Are you talking about me?" Jaune asked.

"Come look at this." Phyrra motioned for Jaune to come out. He looked at the design and smiled. "I like it."

"There's more, a lot more." Phyrra said. She started to unravel more of the scroll, but realized that it was needed yet. She looked at the title of the first set of blueprints.

"Project: Lancelot"

"You know what Lancelot is?" Karel asked.

"I was hoping you knew." She said.

"No clue."

* * *

 **Month 5 Day 6**

Phyrra called Gael and went to the Jedi temple. Gael was standing on the steps and brought her in. She took her to a side room.

"So, that plant you had on you wasn't Aloe, in fact it's a plant that I had a hard time finding out what it was. I had to use our widest searches, and found that your plant was the base form of bacta. A miracle healing substance that Karel would be very familiar with. It's extremely rare, in fact, so rare that I'm surprised that you had as much as you did. I also checked your hair, and found that the DNA in it had a slight modification nine months ago. You're not pregnant are you?"

Her face turned red.

"No, what would make you think that?"

"Did you have bone marrow transplanted in your body in the past few months?"

"No."

"Then you are a maiden."

"What?"

"You see, becoming the maiden changes the genetic structure of a woman very slightly. And by finding a plant so rare and having an injury like you did, you would be the fall maiden."

"You can tell that by checking DNA?"

"Yes, because we know what we're looking for. I didn't know it at the time, but your hair was just what we needed. We could literally see when you became the maiden. Congratulations on that."

"Thanks… I guess."

"Also, can I see your finger?"

"Here."

Gael cleaned it and took a small sample of blood. She checked it carefully.

"Nope, not enough to have a strong connection." She said

"What was that?"

"Nothing, I'll keep in touch. If you want I can become your doctor."

Xar came in the room. "We're getting called again."

"Alright." She stood up. "Miss Nikos, I wish you luck. Be careful." She left, and Phyrra left the temple. Ruby ran into her.

"Sorry Phyrra, I'm late." She said

"For what?"

"I'm training with Oscar again today."

"Why don't I come with you?"

"That would be a huge help… Yang's not here."

"Alright, let's go."

 _ **Author's Notes: The Palace isn't done yet, and who knows, maybe even the Sirens… or not. But the Palace will be seen again.**_

 _ **We're getting things moving with characters. Also lots of lore!**_

 _ **There's not a lot I've got to add.**_

 _ **May the Force be with You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	26. Chapter 25: Marriage

**Chapter 25**

 **Year 2 Month 2 Day 15**

 **After the Phyrra went to the Palace, she and Jaune started training together, and started dating. Project Lancelot was built, and Jaune grew stronger. The war went on, but the day came for Karel and Bora.**

Karel was up early today. He had a knot in his stomach. It was his wedding day. Everyone was ready for it, and so was he, but this is something he's never done before. He's never even been to one. He went to his bathroom and got ready. When he looked in his mirror, he could have sworn that he felt his master's hand on his shoulder.

"Master Jade?" He asked aloud. No one answered, since he was alone. He felt calm now. "Thanks… mom" He said. He could only think of Jade when he thought of a mother. Even though there was a war going on, he felt safe, and happy. Today, that war was far away. He went to his scroll and called Jaune. Over the past eight months, they got a lot closer. He could now call him his best friend.

Jaune picked up.

"Hey, are getting ready."

"Yeah."

He smiled. Over the past few months, Jaune had grown a hundred fold in physical strength, and he's grown a lot more confident. He was the best man.

"Good…" He sighed.

"Phyrra told me to tell you to calm down." Jaune said.

"I am calm, I'm just excited."

"Well, we've got a few more things to do before your wedding."

"Thanks."

Jaune ended the call. Karel went to get his suit ready. He and Bora would meet at the wedding, as was tradition on this planet. He was ready for it. He wondered how Bora was doing.

* * *

Vuren woke Bora up.

"It's your big day." She said. Bora stretched her arms. It was her last day in her dorm room.

"So it is." She said sleepy. She started to go back to her pillow, but she shot up. "It's my wedding day!"

"That's what I said." Vuren said.

Bora got out of her bed and rushed into the bathroom.

"Well then…" Vuren said.

Vuren sat down, and started counting. Bora came out and grabbed everything she needed.

"I got to twelve this time."

"Hey, watch it." She said, pointing at Vuren.

"Can't, Blind, remember."

"You know what I mean." She said as she closed the door.

"I'm going to miss this." Vuren said to herself. She went to the closet and tried to find her dress, but had a lot of difficulty. Bora got out of the bathroom and went to the closet.

"What are you doing?"

"Finding my dress for today."

"You're a mile off, here you go." Bora grabbed both of their dresses. She hung them up and got on her regular clothes.

"Not until we need to." Bora left the room to meet up with Ruby and Weiss to do her hair.

* * *

Phyrra knocked on the door. Vuren used the force to open the door.

"What is it?" Vuren asked.

"We've got a problem." She said sheepishly.

"What do you mean?"

"Ren's drunk."

"I thought we told everyone to not drink last night."

"He missed that message last night somehow."

"Is that it?" She hoped that was it.

"…no."

"What else is there?" She asked concerned.

"The cake's not done yet."

Vuren raised her hands to her nose, rubbing the bridge of it.

"What else?"

"We lost the seating chart."

"Anything else?"

"Well, we're going to need a security team… but Rouge told us that they don't want weapons at the wedding."

"Well that can be solved easily. Just have the Jedi wearing robes carry there lightsabers. We need to keep Bora away from this stuff. We've got to keep her away from that stuff."

"Question, does bacta cure hangovers?"

"If it did, then people would have used it all up by now. He'll have to do it the old fashioned way. Time and water."

"Great…" Phyrra said to herself. She turned around.

"And we also have to keep Karel away from Bora until the wedding. But Rouge's got to get to both of them…"

"That's easy. We just need to keep someone with both of them for the full day. But no one's at Karel's."

"Should we send Rouge?" Vuren asked.

"Not a bad idea. Since she has to meet up with both of them anyway." Phyrra said.

"…Do you have her number?"

"No"

"Does anyone besides Karel have it?"

"Bora."

"That doesn't help us." Vuren said

"…Maybe we should have planned this better." Phyrra said

"Nothing we can do about that now. Now we just need to keep this ship afloat and most importantly…" Vuren raised her finger to the air. "Make sure they find out nothing."

* * *

Bora came back in the room.

"Find out what?"

Vuren and Phyrra jumped back.

"What are you doing here?"

"I forgot my scroll."

"Oh… It's on the nightstand." Vuren said.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Oh, that's nothing." Phyrra said, with her hand rubbing her neck. She and Vuren had smiles on their faces. She shook her head and left.

"Oh, before you leave, can you call Rouge."

"Sure, what am I saying?"

"Ask her to come to beacon."

"Alright."

Bora called Rouge then left. Vuren and Phyrra popped out, waving her off. Nora popped her head out.

"Get over here." Phyrra called. Nora ran out in her regular clothes.

"What is it?"

"We've got a few problems…" Vuren grabbed Nora and Phyrra, bringing them close to her face.

Yang and Blake stood behind them.

"Is this a bad time?" Blake said.

The three jumped, then sighed when they saw it was just them.

"You gave me a heart attack." Vuren said.

"Can't you see through the force?"

"Yeah, but I was paying attention. We need to get someone to Karel, and then keep them from meeting with Bora." Vuren said.

"What about Jaune?"

"He's the best man… so it would make sense that he's with the groom." Vuren said.

"What am I doing?" Everyone jumped again.

"We're really bad at this." Blake said.

* * *

Rouge woke up in her room in the temple. She looked at her scroll, and then jumped out of bed. She was late. She threw on her training uniform when Bora called her.

"Yes big sis?"

"Vuren and Phyrra want to see you at beacon."

"What for?"

"Don't know, they didn't seem very talkative."

Rouge yawned.

"Did you just get out of bed?"

Rouge started to blush. "What, no… maybe"

"You didn't stay up late last night did you?"

"…Maybe" She left the temple and started her way to beacon.

"I think I see you." Bora said. Rouge looked up, plugging in headphones, and placing her scroll in her pocket. She saw two pairs of hands waving.

She met up with them.

* * *

"How's it going?" Ruby asked Rouge.

"…What's going on today again?" Rouge asked. Weiss shook her head.

"My wedding." Bora said.

Rouge slammed her fist in her hand.

"Now I remember…" She looked at Ruby and Weiss making silence motions at her. "That you're getting married." She hugged Bora.

She looked at Ruby, and used the force to talk to her.

"What's happening?"

"We're going to be with her today, to keep her mind off what's going wrong."

"What's going wrong?"

Bora started feeling awkward

"Um… Rouge."

Rouge looked up then ended the hug. She smiled. She looked at her and the two behind her. Weiss shrugged

"Don't look at me." She said. She looked at her scroll and saw the time "Girls, we've got to move, or we're going to be late." She grabbed Bora's arm, and Bora grabbed Ruby's arm. Weiss started running with the two following behind her.

* * *

Rouge entered the dorms and went up to where Teams RWBY and JNPR rest. She saw the group of women talking to each other. She walked up behind them. Phyrra looked over and saw her.

"She's here." Phyrra said.

Everyone turned around.

"At least this time one of us noticed."

"What's going on here?"

"We need you to do something really important." Nora said.

"What?" She took a step back until Nora grabbed her shoulders.

"We need you to keep Bora away from Karel, keep Karel away from the bakery, and keep both of them away from Ren." She said.

"Wait, why?"

"Too long to explain, now soldier, get out there!" Rouge didn't know why, but she saluted Nora and started to run, but Yang caught up with her.

"Hey, I'll help you. We Padawans need to stick together, right?" She winked at Rouge.

"Yeah, and you can explain what all that was about." Rouge was worried about what happened.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you."

* * *

Jaune rushed to the balcony, and jumped down, landing on the ground in front of Yang and Rouge.

"Just because you've gotten a lot stronger over the last few months doesn't mean you need to show off." Yang said.

"Just wanted to catch up to you quickly." He said. "Besides, it didn't hurt." Jaune gave her a thumbs up.

"Don't become a bad example for Rouge here." Yang put her hands on Rouge's shoulders. Rouge crosses her arms at Jaune. He steps back with his hands up.

"Alright, I'm sorry." Jaune said. Yang let her hand down and Rouge gave her a low five.

"And you're afraid I'll be a bad example?" Jaune mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" Yang asked.

"Nothing." He said.

* * *

They met up with Karel when he left his house.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"We're here to help you today." Jaune said

"Help?" Karel asked

"You've got a few things to do before your wedding. Come on." Yang said. Rouge looked at her scroll, and saw the text scroll across. 'Go to the bakery' from Ruby.

"Hey master, I just remembered that I have to get something from my room." Rouge said

"What is it?"

"The necklace." She said. Karel gave her the necklace his master gave him when he made his lightsaber when Rouge made her lightsaber.

"Alright, but don't take your lightsaber with you." Karel said

"Fine" She wined.

She got to the temple real quick, and changed into better clothes even quicker. She looked at her lightsaber for a moment, then shook her head. She left for the bakery.

She entered and saw the baker come out of the back. He looked at her, then quickly took a look in the back.

"Here for the cake?"

"Yeah, for Commander Allusis' wedding."

"Well, we're almost done with it. The frosting took longer than we thought to make. A lot longer."

"So how much longer until we can pick it up?"

"We're going to deliver it for free this time, to apologize for it."

"Oh, so when will it be delivered?"

"About half an hour."

"Thanks."

* * *

She was about to send a message to Vuren when she realized that she was blind, so she went to her contacts. She realized that she didn't have her contact, or anyone's contact except for Karel, Bora and Ruby. She hung her head down.

"What am I going to do now?" She asked herself. She decided to take a risk, and call Ruby.

Thankfully Ruby picked up

"Hey Rouge, what's up?" She asked.

"Is Bora by you?"

She heard Ruby move then answer

"No, what's happening?"

"We need someone to pick up the cake in half an hour at the banquet hall."

"Did you call anyone yet?"

"You"

"You know what I mean" Ruby said.

"I don't have anyone else in my contacts."

"Okay, I'll make the call." Ruby ended the call. "We really need to share our contacts with her."

Ruby looked over to see Bora getting her nails done.

"Not a lot of time left." She said.

"What was that?" Bora asked.

"Just saying that it's not a lot of time before you're done."

"But since we're here, we might as well get you two done."

"Are you sure? I mean, we're paying for this."

"I've got it. Don't forget, I'm rich." She said

"How rich?"

"Rich, but not Weiss rich."

"It's more like my father's rich" Weiss said

"Same difference." Bora said. Ruby and Weiss looked at each other.

"Might as well." Ruby said out loud. 'It'll buy us some time' she thought.

* * *

Nora stood over Ren. He looked up, holding his head.

"I'm sorry. I'm not the strongest drinker." He said

"We said no drinking last night. How did you not hear that?"

"I don't remember much of last night." He said sitting up.

"Well, we need to get ready." Nora went to the closet and took out Ren's suit.

"Are you going to turn around?" Ren asked as he took off his shirt.

"Nope." She said smiling.

"Perv."

* * *

Blake and Vuren went to the banquet hall. The Bakery van arrived outside, and they directed the men moving the cake.

Blake handed them Lien as they left.

"We should be getting dressed now." Blake said.

"Good thing I brought our dresses." Vuren took out the two bags that had their dresses.

Blake took her dress and headed for a place to change. She expected Vuren to follow behind her. She was about to take off her shirt when she heard Sun's voice. She went back out to the banquet area and saw his red face, covering his eyes. Vuren had her shirt off, and started changing in the banquet area.

"Sun, outside now." Blake said

"You got it."

He left to guard the door to the building.

"Vuren, why are you changing out here?"

"Like I care if anyone sees me" She finished getting her dress on. It was an Emerald color. Blake went to the door and opened it.

"Alright, you can come in. What did you see?"

"Just her back a swear" He said defensively. He was wearing what he normally wears except his shirt was black with a white tie.

"What are you wearing?"

"What? Is this too formal?"

Blake shook her head.

"Not formal enough. You couldn't even get dress pants?"

He leaned in "Those got destroyed in the washer."

"You only have one pair of dress pants?" She asked concerned.

"Well yeah, who need more than one pair of dress pants?"

"You're hopeless."

"That's why I got you" He said. Blake turned away.

"Get the tables set." She said as she went to get her dress on.

Sun and Vuren started getting the tables set.

"Sorry about that." He said.

"Look, I don't care about that sort of stuff. To me, everyone might as well be naked. Like I'll care."

"Why are you so nonchalant about that stuff?"

"I'm blind. Not like I care about looks."

Blake soon came out with a black dress, with lace going up one leg.

"How do I look."

Vuren gave a thumbs up.

"Thanks… wait. I can't stand you right now."

Vuren laughed to herself

She looked at Sun, and he stood there, him trying to close his mouth.

She blushed.

"I'm glad to see someone likes it."

Vuren went to the kitchen area for something. Sun went up to her.

"Hey, after this wedding, want to go see a movie or something?" Sun asked.

"Alright, but you're paying for the popcorn."

"Hey, I'm fine with that."

* * *

Karel went to the Bakery, even though Yang and Jaune tried to keep him from it.

"I'm here for…"

The baker cut Karel off.

"It's already delivered."

"Oh." Yang and Jaune felt a ton lift off their chests.

"I guess that's the second to last thing." Karel said

"What's the last thing?" Yang asked

"The catering." Karel said.

Jaune and Yang looked at each other and sighed.

"After everything we just did." Jaune said.

Bora and her group finished so they returned back to their dorms to get changed.

Phyrra and Nora made sure to keep Bora away from Ren. He was dressed, but still had a bad headache. He took pills to help with that.

Phyrra met with Bora, in her dress. The red and gold dress seemed to fit her incredibly well.

Bora looked at it and nodded.

"I like it." She said. She entered her room, with Phyrra standing at the door.

"Do you need some help getting that on?" Phyrra asked.

"It would help… I can't reach the Zipper in the back."

"Alright." Phyrra closed the door. Bora got to her wedding dress on, and Phyrra helped her with it.

"It's almost time." Bora said. Her leg bounced up and down.

"Nervous?"

"Yeah. I love Karel, it's just, there is going to be the most important day of our lives." Bora said, as she looked out her window.

"It's alright. Trust me, you're ready for it."

She reached her hand up to Phyrra's.

"Thanks." She wished her parents were here for this moment. Her brother too, but she felt their presence. She got up and turned around to hug Phyrra.

* * *

Everyone finished getting dressed, including Karel, and they were heading to the Jedi temple. There was a room in it that was in effect a chapel for this purpose.

The Jedi who didn't have any significant roles wore robes, with their lightsabers hidden. Rouge, in her red dress, started putting flowers on all the pews. Karel was standing at the altar. The majors arrived. Vuren, Ruby, and Yang welcomed them, and all the other guests. Nora walked with Ren in arm, when they were stopped by Ruby.

"Is he alright?"

"Yeah, I'm much better." Ren said

"Alright, I'll lead you to your seat."

The last of the guests arrived. Jacques Schnee and Winter walked in. Jacques was still using the cane. Karel came over to them.

"I was worried that I wasn't going to see you today." Karel said.

"I may have a bad leg, but there was no way I was going to miss this. Congratulations." He said. Karel led him to his seat personally.

"Winter, thanks for being here." Karel said.

"Listen, you're like my brother. Hell would sooner freeze over than I would miss this." She said

Karel got back to the altar. Everyone chatted until Blake came in.

"They're here!" She said.

Weiss got out first, her blue dress covering Bora's face.

Karel turned around, and watched as Master Emerald Ray took her place as the one who would officiate the wedding. She wore her regular robes.

Everyone was in their seats when the organist started playing. Weiss took a step into the chapel then, stood to the side, as Bora came in. Her white dress drew everyone's eyes to it. Karel stole a quick look behind him, and felt his heart skip a beat.

'I am the luckiest guy in the universe.'

Bora was holding a bouquet of flowers walking down the aisle. When she got to the alter, she looked at her soon to be husband. His smile calmed her down.

"Here we are." She wrapped her arm around Karel's.

"Here we are." He said

"Let's begin. As we all know well, Marriage brings us together today. The union of two souls into one the most important thing we can witness. This ceremony is all about love. We live in a time of war, but Love still shines through. We must be thankful for that. Now, we give time for these two souls to exchange words." Master Ray said

"Bora, I swear on my honor to protect you with everything I have. I swear that I will love you in sickness and in health. I treasure you in my heart, and will forever. My love for you is never in doubt. Our bond is war tested as everyone here can attest to. I will protect you, and be loyal to you completely. I so swear on my life." Karel ended his speech.

Bora blushed, and took a breath.

"Karel, for the entire time I've known you, you've been watching me and fighting alongside me. We've lost many friends, and made many others. We both know loss, but we both know how strong Love is. I can truly say to you that I love you. I will protect you just like you protect me. I may not be a Jedi, or use the force, but that won't stop me. Together we can face against the whole world. Though I hope we don't have to." Bora smiled.

"Now we shall continue." Master Rey opened a book

"Do you, Karel Allusis, take Bora Lone as your lawfully wedded Wife to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish till death do you part?"

"I do, without hesitation." Karel said

"Do you, Bora Lone, take Karel Allusis as your lawfully wedded Husband to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish till death do you part?"

"I do, a million times."

"Then I pronounce you husband and wife." She turned to Karel.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Karel lifts the veil on Bora and kisses her.

* * *

As the marriage part ended, the banquet started.

Many of the guests left cash, presents, and loving notes.

Karel and Bora went up to the huntsmen and asked them the question that's been on their minds.

"What did you hide from us?" Karel asked

"Nothing." Ruby said.

"Really… is that why you all acted weird today?"

They looked at each other.

"Okay, look the cake wasn't done, Ren had a hangover, people brought weapons, and like everything you said not to do happened." Jaune said.

"Great poker face." Blake said

Bora and Karel laughed.

"Guys, none of that mattered, and who said you couldn't bring weapons?" Bora asked.

"Rouge said no weapons."

"No, we said she couldn't have her weapon, because she fidgets. It would have been bad if she turned it on." Karel said

"But what about the cake?" Weiss asked.

"It's here isn't it?"

"And Ren's hangover?"

"Is he better now?" Bora asked

"Yeah, I am." Ren said

"So no harm done." Karel said

"You guys are really calm about this." Yang said

"Why worry?"

Winter came up to Karel and Bora.

"Father would like to give you this as his gift. He went back home. His leg's hurting him a lot more than he likes to admit."

"Thank you Winter." Bora said

"Congratulations one last time." She hugged both of them.

Karel opened the envelope, and took out reservations to the most famous hot springs on Remnant, the Atlesian hot springs. The water melts away all cold of Atlas. All expense paid honeymoon.

"Well, that beats what we were originally going to do."

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 20**

Karel and Bora were enjoying their honeymoon in the hot springs. Weiss and Winter house sat for them.

"This is great." Karel said, sitting in the water.

"I can see why you recommended this place so much." Bora said.

Their cares seemed to melt away.

"How long have we been in here?" Bora asked

"Not long enough." Karel said. He seemed to melt in the water. He had a childlike smile on his face. Bora moved right next to him

"We still need to go to the room." She said, enjoying the water.

Karel opened his eyes.

"Did I ask Vuren to watch over Rouge?" He asked

"…I don't remember."

"I'll send a text tomorrow. Now we get to relax." They both sank into the water.

* * *

Vuren woke up when she got a text. She thought she would have some fun.

She sent back a message saying

"Beijaf kjfeir ojie"

Karel looked at the message in his robe and showed it to Bora.

"What?" He sent back

"Teif fker ihrerds"

"Wait, she's blind." Bora realized.

Karel called.

"Sorry about that."

"What did you want to tell me?"

"Can you watch over Rouge until we get back?"

"Of course. Honestly she's been staying with me since you left."

"Thanks."

"Have a good time."

Vuren ended the call.

"Well then, looks like we can get back to our honeymoon." Bora said

"Looks like we can."

 _ **Author's Notes: So, how'd you like this one? This is the most 'romantic' the story will be at. This story has been going on for many years. From the day that I wrote that first chapter back in 2015. It's been a long road. I'd like to thank you all for sticking around with this.**_

 _ **Remember, nothing sexual in this story.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoy, and have a good day**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	27. Chapter 26: Last Stand

**Chapter 26**

 **Year 2 Month 6 Day 04**

 **The War raged on as it had been for the past two and a half years. The war was a front by Salem to gather what she needs to win. She needed one thing above all. The one thing she needed above all were the artifacts.**

Oscar was waiting outside Beacon for his contact. Ruby came up to him. The two have grown close.

"Hey Oscar. What are you waiting for?" Ruby sat next to him.

"Ozpin told me that I should be expecting someone today. I don't know who it is."

"Well, mind if I stick around here?"

"Oh, no, you can stay." The sun was just about to rise.

"Do you know what they look like?" Ruby asked.

"All I know is that they have silver eyes, like you."

"What, are you trying to replace me?" She said jokingly, while gently pushing Oscar.

"Hey, no one can do that. Who else can do a lap around the city in ten seconds?"

"I can do more than go fast." She said, while puffing up her cheeks.

"Trust me, I know." His hands shot up.

* * *

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice said.

Oscar jumped up.

"Sorry about that… Amelia?"

She was tall. Her hair matched the same color of her eyes. She wore an old Valesian military uniform, colored blue. She wore a matching blue corset around her midriff, thought it was just cosmetic. She wore a white shirt that had room to breathe. She wore two belts, one of which had a black sword hanging on it. Her pants were black until the end of the leg which became blue. She had a whip on her hip, by the sword.

"Yes, that's my name, but call me Ama" She said

"What is that?" Ruby asked, about the sword on her hip.

"This is what I'm here for. I guess that since she's with you, I can trust her."

"We also got the same eyes." Ruby said

"I suppose we do." She got out the sword and gave it to Oscar. He carefully gripped the sword.

"You still haven't told me what this is." Ruby said

"I guess we haven't. This is what the entire war is about." Ama said.

"I thought this war was about the two sides trying to stop the other one." Ruby said. Now that she thought about it, what was this war being fought over.

"Do you know who the true enemy in this war is?"

"Is it… the empire?"

"Even after a year, most people still think like you do. No, our true enemy is Salem. She started this war."

Ruby felt a shock.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked

"I found out who killed Whitley Schnee. Two of Salem's lackeys." She moved in close. "And the Jedi knew this." She looked dead in Ruby's eyes.

"Is that all Amelia?

"No, because I want to learn more about this girl, but you, you've got that to take care of." Ama said

"You're pushing it." Oscar said.

"Am I?"

"Ruby, come with me."

"No, stay with me." Ama said

Ruby looked at the two of them.

"Ruby…" Oscar said

"If you come with me… I'll tell you everything."

"What can you learn from her?" Oscar said

"That's fair. My offer will always stand. Here, how you will find me." She handed Ruby a card.

"Ruby, I've got something I want to show you." Oscar said

Ruby turned back to Oscar. They went into Beacon

* * *

"Why don't you like her?"

"Because, she killed the last Maiden for that power."

"Why did she do that?"

"Because she had to, but I still don't like it."

"Who did she kill?"

"Her mother."

Oscar led Ruby to a large vault, even deeper than where Amber was being held.

"This vault was a gift from ages long past. It was my last gift from Ashla. It is able to keep out the influences of Bogan. But to open it… I need your hand."

Ruby looked at him with a smirk.

"Are you asking to marry me?"

Oscar's face became red.

"That's not what I meant." He said

"I know, I'm just joking with you."

Oscar grabbed Ruby's hand, and put it on vault. It rumbled and opened. Then they saw it.

* * *

It seemed like another world. It looked like giant pool of light. Oscar and Ruby still held each other's hands.

They walked up the stairs past the pool.

"What is this place?"

"It is unable to be found by regular means, though it used to be open to everyone. This is where Ashla once lived. Those touched by Bogan cannot enter here."

"Why did you need my hand?"

"There are two ways to open these vaults. Either be the maiden, or…"

'I need the woman I love' Oscar thought

"I need a force user to help me open it." Oscar said.

"And this?" She pointed to a rock.

"This is a tool made to keep this artifact secure. Have you heard the legends of the sword in the rock?"

"You're not saying that this is that rock right?" Ruby asked with awe.

"I am in fact, and this sword is the same sword."

"That's so cool." Ruby said.

* * *

"Now, we have a moment to talk." Oscar and Ruby sat down again.

"Is what she said true?" Ruby asked

"Not fully. Not all the Jedi knew. It's more like one Jedi knew…"

"Who?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, I want to know why they didn't tell us."

"They didn't tell you because it would destroy the alliance. To know that this whole war is a sham. Imagine what that would do to public trust, and troop morale. We're just barely holding the empire back. Do you still want to know who it is?"

"…Yes."

"Karel."

That was the second big shock today one of her best friends has been hiding this big of a secret.

"Why… no I understand." Ruby said, lying to herself a little.

"I'm going to be completely truthful with you Ruby. I'm going to tell you about my past. Everything."

"Are you sure?"

"If I can't trust you, then there is no one alive I can trust."

Ruby blushed. Oscar and Ruby laid down on their backs, still holding each other's hands.

* * *

"I was first born long ago, in the age of heroes. I can't even remember how long ago that was. I learned of a woman who was locked in a tower, like all the storybooks say. My name was Ozma. I rescued the woman named Salem. She was kind, and good back then. I grew sick, and died. I was set to meet her on the other side, but she couldn't be without me, so she tried to trick the gods into bringing me back. She damned us both. She became immortal in spirit, but cursed with having to steal a woman's body every millennium. My spirit was cursed to walk the earth until I stopped her."

"This all happened in one life?"

"Yes. The gods came to me in the afterlife and gave me a mission to end the life of the woman I once loved. They gave me four of these artifacts. A sword, a Lance, a crown, and a lamp. I spread them out to the four vaults. They've been used very sparingly since then, since if they ever came together the Gods would return, and if there was war, all would be lost."

"What do you mean?"

"Before leaving, the Gods destroyed all of humanity."

"What? But how are we here now?"

"Four men and four women were brought back. They became went to the kingdoms and spread."

"So what about faunas?"

"Even I don't know how they came to be" Oscar said

"How many lives have you lived?"

"I don't know. I have lived so many times that I lost count. I lost count of the Legends that I'm a part of. There is only one thing I remember from each life."

"Which is?"

"Who I love."

Oscar gripped Ruby's hand a little tighter. She did the same.

"Well, I reincarnated for the first time. I found Salem, and we lived a somewhat regular life. Though since we were the only ones with magic, she said we should rule over men. That temptation overcame me. So I became Ozma, the false God."

"What?"

"I was young and stupid at the time, and in love. I wore rose tinted glasses. I let myself become what I swore to fight against. Salem and I created the first maidens, as our children. I realized soon after that I was wrong. I tried to save my children from living that life, but Salem and I fought. She killed me, and our children."

"That's… evil."

"It is." Oscar said. He continued his story

"I went on from life to life living and dying with that mission always in my mind up to today."

"But… is each life unique?"

"Oh, yeah. I can live a normal life, and have a family."

"What about you?"

"Me? Well, I was raised on a farm. My parents worked on it until they died. It was my aunt and I for a while. A few days before we met my aunt died when the Grimm destroyed the farm. After that I left. That's when I met up with you guys."

"Did you ever think about what you're going to do after the war?"

Oscar was silent for a bit, then his finger shot up.

"Yeah, actually, I was hoping to settle down and have a family."

"You don't want to become like Ozpin?"

"He's been leaving my mind recently."

Ruby and Oscar laid back down on the ground looking up at the sky. They enjoyed the time together.

Oscar went to get up and Ruby wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you for trusting me." Ruby said.

"Of course Ruby. I'll always trust you. I… I love you." He looked in her eyes.

"I think…" Ruby got closer. "I love you too."

Ruby and Oscar kissed.

* * *

The grandmaster sat in her room. She felt the sword being returned to where it was meant to be. She knew it was time.

She went to the council meeting. She wasn't listening much.

"Grandmaster?" Roni asked her

She looked up

"I'm sorry, my mind was deciding something."

"What was it?" Master Ray asked.

"Who would replace me. Master Ray, You shall take my place as the grandmaster."

Everyone looked at her in shock

"What?" Roni asked.

"This will be the last time we meet. Thank you all for your service. I must go now." She got out of her seat.

"What are you doing?"

"I must either return, or destroy the spear."

"Spear?" Master Black asked.

"The artifact left by Ashla. Salem is going after them, and we have the spear." She raised her hand, and the black spear that had hung as a decoration came to her hand.

"That's one of the artifacts?" Roni asked

"Yes. Master Rey, take your seat now." The grandmaster left the council room with the spear in hand.

When the grandmaster left the temple, she was met by Maria. She waited for the grandmaster.

"What are you doing here?"

"The same as you. Our time has come. I've already taught Ruby everything she'll need to know. Now we older ladies need to bow out." She said as she walked alongside the grandmaster.

"We won't make it you know." The grandmaster said

"Then we better make this count. How many do you think you can take down?"

"More than you."

* * *

Karel and Bora were walking down the road when they saw the grandmaster walking with Ruby's teacher. They stopped the two on their trip.

"Grandmaster, what are you doing out here?"

They stopped moving, and the grandmaster turned.

"Oh, hello you two. How are you?" She asked.

Karel felt something about her was off. She sounded older, and started to look it.

"Are you okay grandmaster?" Karel asked.

"Oh, yes, perfectly fine. I love seeing the younger generation like yourselves grow old, It means that we've done our job to some extent."

"What's that in on your hip?" Bora asked

"Something that I have to destroy. But never mind that." She grabbed Bora and Karel's hands.

"This loving, newlywed couple makes my soul soar. I do believe that it is your birthday Karel… Here, my final gift to you."

She took out a worn out leather book, with an emblem on it, and a necklace.

"What's this?"

"My story. Goodbye Karel, goodbye."

Karel looked up and watched as the grandmaster and Maria left the bounds of the city.

"Her story?" Bora looked at the book. It was large, having hundreds of pages.

"The necklace… opens." Karel said as he opened it. A Kyber crystal sat in it.

"I don't like this." Karel said

Maria and the grandmaster walked along the road, for many hours silent.

"We should have seen Grimm by now. What is Salem waiting for?" Maria said.

"Let's count our blessings."

"I doubt that she's being kind. Maybe she hopes that we'll die of natural causes."

"I'd go before you would." She said.

"I know… how many stones do you have left?"

"One."

"I see… so that's why you decided it was time."

Maria and the grandmaster walked down the path. The grandmaster wore a ring on her finger. She had artificially extended her life with the tools the sirens left behind. They were able to capture magic into a series of stones. The grandmaster used many of them to keep her illness away.

"When will it kill you?" Maria asked.

"I've got just enough to get to the forge."

"The night soon falls." Maria put her hand to her necklace.

"I see that you're in the same situation."

"The Sirens were wise. We had to take something from us to use the magic. I gave my eyes, but you gave your health."

"Give and take, the costs of magic are high… but we're the only ones who know how to use them… so we take it to our graves."

* * *

 **Month 6 Day 6**

The duo didn't run into Grimm or black fang. They were only a mile from their final destination. Maria got up first. She awoke the grandmaster.

"Time to wake up. We're almost there."

She struggled to get up. She coughed profusely.

"It's alright. Today is all we need."

"We're going to die today. I'm glad you're by my side."

"As am I. now, let's face our destiny."

Maria and the grandmaster got up and walked through the forest until they got to an opening. There was a stone pillar. Maria and the grandmaster placed there final stones into place. The pillar shook, and a temple arose from the ground.

"That's far enough." A voice rang out.

Cinder jumped down from the woods. She was followed by ancient jedi and Sith. Dozens of Grimm came out of the woods.

"So, this is what Salem was doing. Maria, I'll hold them off. Take the spear to the forge."

"I don't think so." Cinder said. She sent the Grimm after her, but Maria said something quietly, and there was a flash. In a moment all the Grimm were gone. A circle of flames, and light surrounded them. All those who were still standing were the two living women, and seven of Salem's best.

"You shouldn't have done that." The grandmaster said

"It was the only thing I could do. It was the last use for this century anyway." Maria went down into the ancient temple.

"You know what to do." Cinder said.

A Sith rushed forward and tried to jump over the grandmaster, but she lifted her hand up. The Sith was stopped, and flung backwards.

"You have to get through me first!" She outstretched her arms, and she was engulfed in fire. She looked at them.

"By the gods." Cinder said

"That's not going to work on me." A jedi shouted. He rushed forward, and brought his lightsaber down to slice her. The grandmaster grabbed him by the throat, and threw him to the side. His body burst into flames. It quickly turned black. The Grandmaster's eyes were now visible

"I see." Cinder said. The Sith that the grandmaster pushed to the side threw his lightsaber at the grandmaster, but it bounced off the armor. Some of it was now gone. She shot the hands of the armor at him. They dug into him, and went through him.

"Now we will see how many hits you can take before you're out in the open."

* * *

Maria walked down the staircase. She felt her breathing was becoming heavier. The cost for using magic was high. The use of magic would have made her have the same stamina as someone twenty or thirty years her senior. As she got to the bottom of the staircase, she felt shame in lying to the grandmaster.

"I needed to give her hope."

She tried to fix her mechanical eyes, but they were almost as useless as her eyes. She felt a blast of wind hit her face. She knew where the forge was.

She had to get out the Lance to use as a walking stick. She was almost visibly aging by the minute. She resigned to die trying to spit Salem one last time. The air was getting hotter. She finally found where the forge was. Maria was certain that there was lava under her. She got to a staging area. Now she just had to drop the lance into the pit.

* * *

The grandmaster had used, or lost half of her armor, and she was almost exhausted.

She finished her dual with the last Sith and fell to one knee. Cinder had yet to move a muscle.

The grandmaster brought her armor to her arm, and shot half of it at Cinder. She jumped over it, and pulled out her twin lightsabers. One was red and the other was black.

"We should have never taken you in." The grandmaster said

"That was your mistake." Cinder would have at one time taken offence to that, but not now.

The grandmaster shot the last of her armor at Cinder, or so she thought. Cinder jumped in the air, but she was aiming for the ground beneath her. The flames shot up. Cinder used the magic she had from her half of the maiden's soul. She formed an energy shield. She noticed that the first blast never went off. She turned around, and saw the first blast heading right at her. It connected with the shield, knocking Cinder off balance. She fell to the ground with a thud.

The grandmaster coughed up blood from exertion.

"I know you aren't dead." She said

Cinder rose from the ground.

"That one actually hurt. I guess you haven't lost all of your touch."

"Sorry Maria." She reached behind her to the stones. It gave her power to increase her force powers. She used the force to grip the crystal in Cinder's black saber. She used the last of her energy to crush it, causing a blast to send the two of them backwards. The grandmaster was inside the temple. Her lung disease was in full effect. She coughed up blood. Her aura was gone completely.

Cinder got up and looked at the two spheres. She gave them some of her magic. It nearly destroyed her aura. She fell to one knee for a moment, and quickly stood up.

The temple's door opened once again.

"You sacrificed something that important?" The grandmaster coughed up more blood.

"Your journal, where is it?" Cinder asked, slowly moving to the grandmaster.

"Somewhere you won't get it."

"Then you are of no use to me." Cider finally got to the grandmaster, and grabber her robes. She pulled the older woman up.

"You didn't kill me. My illness did." She said smirking. She coughed up more blood, hitting Cinder in the face. The grandmaster made a sound that would have disturbed most people. She let go of life before Cinder could have killed her. Her lightsaber was up to her chest.

She smelled something.

"…Gunpoweder!"

* * *

The grandmaster's body exploded in a massive fireball. It was as if a missile had gone off.

Ulric came down the steps of the temple, grabbing what was left of Cinder, rushing down to the forge.

After they were safe, Ulric created a portal, and sent Cinder through.

"Damn her"

Ulric went to the forge, and saw Maria standing there.

"So, the grandmaster's dead?"

"Yes. I have to kill you now." Ulric said

Maria took off her eye ware. She used her eyes for one final purpose. One final use. She gathered the force in her eyes, and they reformed, for a brief moment.

"To hell with all of this." Maria said.

She grabbed the lance as Ulric rushed forward. She stood on the pedestal. She was over the Lava. She plunged the lance in her chest. Her eyes shot up, her eyes grew brighter than ever. Ulric had to jump back to not be burned to a crisp. Maria's body started to fall to the Lava. Ulric made a quick last second decision, and used the force to grip Maria's body. Ulric walked up to her body, and gripped the lance.

"Sorry, but I need this."

Ulric kicked Maria's body back. She fell to the lava below, her body disappearing quickly.

Ulric reopened the portal behind him, and he walked back through it quickly.

* * *

Salem was on the other side. She was using her magic to recreate Cinder's lost limbs. She lost her left leg, left arm, and left eye.

"Do you have it?" Salem asked.

Ulric brought the lance to her as he fell to the ground.

"And the two elders?"

"Dead." Ulric said.

Cinder was placed in the black liquid tank. Salem got Ulric to a second tank. Both sank down into their pools to heal.

"Six force users in exchange for this. I made out well."

Salem held the lance in her hands. She was almost ready. She just needed one more artifact until Ozpin will reveal his plans.

"Well lover, let's play this game of cat and mouse one more time." Salem looked out her window. She heard one of the pieces on the chess board she had fall. She ignored it.

* * *

Oscar almost fell to the ground. He was training with Ruby and Yang again.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Salem has the lance." He said.

Ruby and Yang looked at each other. Ruby's face was more concerned than Yang's. She knew what that meant.

"Yang this is bad."

Karel closed the journal of the grandmaster. He knew her name now, and her semblance. All respect of her was gone now.

"What was it?"

"She was a monster." Karel said. He felt sick.

"What do you mean?"

"The grandmaster! She used the Siren's tech to extend her life." Karel said.

"Let me see that."

"Page 523, she explains why that's evil."

Bora opened up to that page. She saw a picture of a small stone.

"This is what the siren's made?"

"Yes. Read on." Karel said.

"The Siren's made a series of stones made of magic. They were made from the magic sealed inside the bodies of everyone born on remnant. The stones represent over one thousand lives spent. The Stone is made out of Magic that comes from the souls of sacrifices. Using one makes me much more powerful." Bora closed the book.

"She knew, and she still used them?" Bora said shocked.

"Exactly." Karel ran his hands through his hair.

"Have you read on?"

"I can't stand to read any further. She was sworn to protect the people of Remnant, but she used their deaths to benefit herself."

Karel had to sit down. He didn't know what to do.

"I'll have to keep reading on later. Maybe then I'll understand if she's as bad as she looks right now. Just… I need time." He said

Bora took the book and put it away.

"You shouldn't read it now. Come on, you need to calm down." Bora said. She went to the kitchen to get him hot chocolate.

Karel went to his dojo. He went up to a punching bag and started attacking it. He let out all his frustrations out on the bag.

Bora came back in the room with two mugs. She placed it on a table and walked over to him.

"Please, just sit down."

Karel took a few deep breathes.

"I'm sorry. Even though I'm 21, I still don't know how to handle my emotions." Karel said.

"Come on." Bora said placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's not your fault. The Jedi don't really teach you about that stuff."

Bora and Karel sat next to each other on a couch. Karel was quiet for a few minutes.

"She's gone." Karel said. He sat up when he said that.

"How do you know?"

"I felt her join the force."

* * *

Ruby walked out of the basement dojo in Karel's house. She was holding onto Oscar.

"I'm sorry guys, but this is bad." Oscar said. Yang came up shortly behind them.

"What happened?"

"Maria and the grandmaster are dead, and Salem has the Lance relic."

Karel clenched a fist.

"She's one step closer."

Ruby and Karel started to grow divided. Karel didn't know why.

"You were talking about the grandmaster a moment ago. What was it?"

Karel opened his fist.

"I'm sorry you heard that. I just learned that the grandmaster didn't tell us everything." Karel said

Ruby got mad

"Hypocrite." She said. Karel looked up shocked.

"What?" He asked.

"Why didn't you tell us this war was just a front for Salem? Why didn't you tell us that she was behind everything?" Ruby said angrily.

Yang looked at her sister.

"What are you talking about?"

Karel sighed.

"About two years ago, I went with Ruby to the Jedi temple. The people who attacked us there were the same people who killed Whitley. I later learned that the guy is in the same group that Echo, the assassin who killed Weiss' mom, is in. He is supposedly the mouth of Salem in their organization. It took me quite a while, but after I learned that, I knew Salem was behind Celeste Schnee's death. She also saved Winter. She's playing everyone, but I can't prove it. But If I said anything to the public, the war effort would be destroyed. So I decided to classify everything so far."

Bora brought the grandmaster's journal back.

"I think you need to finish this." Bora said

Karel felt shame. "I'm sorry. I know I should have told you everything, but I was afraid."

"Now you can fit in her shoes." Bora said

Yang looked at Ruby and Karel over and over again.

"I'm a bit lost."

"Oscar, I think you've got a new inner circle." Karel said

"I guess… I do."

* * *

 **Month 6 Day 10**

Karel gathered a small group of hunters together.

Weiss, Jaune, Phyrra, Yatsuhashi, and himself gathered with Oscar, Bora, and Ruby taking seats.

"Karel, why did you gather us?" Jaune asked.

"Salem is one step closer to finishing up her plans. One of her greatest tools are the twelve legendary swordsmen. We must gather together to defeat them. So now here's what we are here for. We are going to become the new legendary swordsmen."

The table was silent.

"The eight of us?" Ruby asked. "Some of us aren't swordsmen." Ruby pointed out.

"Five of us. The three are here for the purpose of translucency. We hide nothing. Oscar, can you force Salem to use one of her troops?"

Oscar thought about it

"No, I don't have enough magic."

"Then we have to hope to face them."

"Have you decided who gets which sword too?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"It is more than obvious. If the five of us can get the five swords that correlate to us, we will become public." Karel said.

"And what are we calling this operation?" Weiss asked

"Swordsmen oppression."

 _ **Author's notes: We got the next story arc set up! Salem's got a relic. The grandmaster's dead, and has a very shady past. Maria is dead.**_

 _ **Ruby and Oscar are definitely becoming closer.**_

 _ **Sorry for this one being so long of a wait. I didn't have a lot of time to write.**_

 _ **There may or may not be a few references to Naruto, but hey, apparently it's newsworthy now with the area 51 raid.**_

 _ **May the Force be with you**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	28. Chapter 27: Fate

**Chapter 27**

 **Year 2 Month 10 Day 1**

 **With Karel creating the new order of the legendary swordsmen, he has been trying to figure out a way to force Salem to reveal them. Yatsuhashi was one of the members in this new order.**

Yatsuhashi walked with Velvet to an open area. Karel had somehow gotten Salem to use one of her fighters. He had yet to describe it.

"Are you ready for a fight?" Yatsuhashi asked Velvet.

"Yeah, after everything you told me, I've gotten ready." She said.

They met up with Karel.

"Sorry, I just tried to get Salem to budge, but she ignored me."

"I thought you had this figured out." Yatsuhashi said

"I thought I did to, but I guess she was just trying to make me move first. She tricked us."

Karel held a little bottle in his hand.

"What is that?" Velvet asked.

"This is water from the pool of light. The opposite to the pool of darkness that Salem has control of."

"So you think that has the power to bring her out?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"When used it the last few times it worked. I don't understand why it isn't working now." Karel said. He looked at the bottle, and put it away.

"Is there another way to force her out in the open?" Velvet asked.

"There is… but it isn't worth it."

Yatsuhashi continued looking at him.

"What is it?"

"I'd have to use one of the siren's orbs, and I will never do that." Karel touched the necklace he was wearing.

"You better get back to Oscar. I'll be ready for the fight."

"You're right." Karel left.

* * *

Salem listened to everything. So they were trying to get her to summon some of her dead troops, but which ones. She needed more information if she was going to continue.

Salem opened a portal and sent out three random soldiers.

They turned around and Yatsuhashi quickly sliced two in half. Salem was curious with this one. She sent out a small bug to latch onto him while the final troop was slain. Yatsuhashi looked at Karel.

"I am a little disappointed that we didn't fight the Fate user." He said

"What do you want with him?" Salem asked. She brought up the user of fate to her side.

"Do you know why this man would want you dead?" she asked

"I don't know what he is. I would guess he's after my sword."

Salem kept that in mind.

"I may have you fight him. I would like to see how you would do." Salem said. She watched as the three hunters entered in a room off to the side in beacon. It was hidden from view. Salem wondered what this was all about.

Holograms started appearing around the table. Salem didn't care about most of them, but there was one who she did take a special interest in. She noticed the youngest one had an aura around him.

"Back already?" Phyrra said.

"We didn't fight the fate user. Salem sent three random troops. We took care of them easily" Yatsuhashi said

"More like you took care of them. I didn't even have time to get my weapon ready." Velvet said

Salem wondered how long it would take them to say what she wants to hear

"We failed to get the Fate user, but we did get her to send troops. We just need her to send the Fate user." Karel said, walking behind Yatsuhashi.

"We all know why." Weiss' hologram said

"But Weiss, the future wielder of Silence, we need to find a way for our enemy to send her best troops to fight us."

"The fight has yet to happen. Don't seem so confident on our victory. Remember the Fate user almost killed Oobleck." Fox's hologram said. All members of team CFVY, JNPR, and RWBY joined.

"But, I think I figured out a way for us to get the fight that we want."

"What is it?" Yatsuhashi asked

Salem smiled. He was a fool.

Karel picked up the bug that Salem placed on Yatsuhashi.

"Salem… I know you can hear us. Consider this a direct challenge. Yatsuhashi verses the user of Fate." Karel said, looking directly into the face of the bug

"He is either brave or stupid." She said

She used her power to speak through the bug

"Alright, jedi. I accept your challenge. In three days, in the emerald forest, we shall see who is stronger."

Karel crushed the bug.

* * *

Everyone looked at him.

"How did you know?"

"I felt it in the water of Ashla. It pointed out the bug to me. Now we have an idea of what's about to happen."

"That was risky." Bora said.

"I know… but I had to take a risk to get her to do what we want. Oscar, I think we'll all need some of this." Karel lifted up his bottle.

"I can make them stone, and we can make them into rings, or necklaces."

"Hey, I know a place where we can get them jeweled." Coco said.

"Next meeting, well figure start spreading those out. Since Yatsuhashi is going to fight his opponent first, I'll give him my bottle." Karel handed the bottle over.

"With that, I think this ends the meeting… so while we still have some time, any announcements?" Oscar asked

Nora jumped up, holding Ren's hand

"We're getting married."

Everyone gave them their congratulations. The members left shortly after Bora stayed behind to wait for Karel.

"Hey, what is it?" Karel asked.

"I've got something to tell you." Bora said

"What is it?"

"Not here, back at home." She said

Karel gave her a look, but he listened to his wife. They went back to their home.

* * *

"Okay Bora, what is it?" He said, taking off his coat

"How do you feel about having children?" She asked a bit shy

"I'd love to be a father. Why do you ask?"

"Just wanted to know. Now I've got a surprise for you." She said. She went to another room to get something.

"There isn't much left to surprise me. Really the only thing left to surprise me would be you saying that you're pregnant." Karel said picking up the grandmaster's journal.

Bora came back in the room. Karel looked at her. Her face was red.

"Surprise" she showed Karel a positive pregnancy test.

Karel put down the journal, and looked at Bora, eyes wide, face turning into a smile. He hugged Bora.

"I've got to say, this is a surprise."

"But… this complicates things." Bora said

"Hey, this is a happy moment. The happiest since we got married."

"But… I can't fight."

"That is true… we've got to do a lot. And I'm going to need a second in command." Karel said. He and Bora sat down. Bora laid her head on his shoulder. "But that doesn't matter now."

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 2**

Yatsuhashi worried about the fight that loomed over his head.

"Can I defeat him?" He asked Velvet

"Who?" She asked.

"Fate"

"You mean the concept or the swordsman?"

"Swordsman."

"Good, because it'll be a lot easier to take him down than the concept."

"This isn't a joke." Yatsuhashi said

"Sorry, you just looked like you needed someone to make a couple of jokes." Velvet said

"I don't need anyone's pity if that's what you think."

"That's the opposite of what I said. Come on, you don't need to be serious all the time." Velvet said as they got to their destination. Coco's favorite café.

"Finally got here I see." Coco said

"I don't." Fox mumbled to himself.

Coco elbowed Fox.

"I heard that." She said as she took a sip of her coffee.

"So, we know that we're going to the emerald forest, but not exactly where." Fox said

"I think I may have an idea. Remember, the year below us had to take on those Grimm. They were larger than the regular variety. Maybe the residue of the Grimm is still there. Maybe that's where it will happen." Velvet said

"But we already four classes come through since then. There's no way that the residue will still be there." Coco said.

"But… ever since our year, the Grimm has been getting larger. Just look at Team SNOW. They took out that Tiger…" Fox started

"That may just be it. The Grimm are being attracted to something in the forest." Coco said

"So, if we just go back to the temple, we may be able to get ready for this fight." Yatsuhashi said

"We can do this together." Velvet said.

"Can I finish my idea?" Fox asked

"What?" Velvet asked him.

"We can't determine if we'll be alone. Salem isn't exactly trustworthy."

"So well just get Karel to lend us a few squads." Coco said

"You think he can just do that?" Fox asked

"Well, he is the commander of a legion, so I don't see why not."

"This isn't going to be easy you know."

A woman walked past the group. When she turned the corner she smiled. There was nothing notable about her.

"When's this happening?" She asked herself.

"We have three days to get our strategy down." Coco said.

The woman out on her mask and disappeared.

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 2**

Ninth took her seat next. Eighth, fourth, and thirteenth were there.

Ninth was wearing her mask, with an ancient character for assassin written in blood on her mask. She had many daggers on her belt. Her hair was short, and blonde.

"What is it ninth?"

Ninth took off her mask. She pressed a button on her wrist, and out of her left eye came a hologram.

"Yesterday, I found one of the people who have challenged our Patron. Yatsuhashi is his name, and this is his team. Three hunters, recently graduated. They are going to fight the Fate user in two days. What do you think we should do?"

"I think fourth would be enough." Eighth said.

"Why not tell our Patron eighth? We should tell her…" Echo started

"She knows. She was the one who started this fight." Mercury, who was eighth, said

"So, are we to going to fight them?" Jet asked.

"We will Ninth, or you will." Echo said

Ninth put her mask back on.

"I'm ready." Ninth got ready for her fight.

Ninth left the cave and the three assassins were left.

"Do you plan on taking ninth's place eighth?" Echo asked.

"Only if ninth gets herself killed." Mercury said

"Do you think she'll die?" Jet asked.

"Not really, but if she can't handle a few hunters, she'll have no reason to be here." Mercury said offhandedly.

"Don't act so high and mighty eighth just because you are our Patron's voice." Echo said

"I earned this spot." Mercury said defensively.

"By killing your father, we know." Echo said.

"Are you mocking me?" Mercury said.

"Are you challenging me?" Mercury couldn't see Echo's hands.

"No… just reminding you that I have earned my place here." Mercury put his hands up.

"Apology accepted." Echo showed his hands. Jet calmed down. Echo left the cave.

"You may wonder why I stepped away." Mercury said

"Not really."

"Well I'll tell you anyway, the gap between him and me is a hundred times that as between us."

"And you would die if you fought him?" Jet asked.

"Yeah. Right now, he's too strong. Just like I'm too strong for you." Mercury walked away.

Jet decided that she needed to train more.

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 4**

Team CFVY and five squads from the 122nd legion arrived in the emerald forest. Karel and Rouge went in secret.

Yatsuhashi was at the sight where they fought the Grimm during their first trial.

"It's now or never." Coco said.

Yatsuhashi raised his hand to the sky with the bottle in it. He poured a drop out on the ground, and three people came out of a portal. Two lance wielders, and the Fate user.

"You are the one who challenged me?" The Fate user asked. He seemed to be uninterested

"Yes, I am." Yatsuhashi said confidently.

"But you brought back up." The Fate user remarked offhandedly

"So did you." Yatsuhashi glared

"So I did." The fate user pulled out his blade.

* * *

Ninth jumped down, pulling out two daggers. The men of the 122nd came out. Grimm came out of the forest.

"Looks like this will be a battle."

Rouge looked at Karel.

"Not yet…" He said.

"Found you." Karel was pushed out of his hiding spot. When he landed, he saw one of Salem's Sith. Rouge jumped out of the tree and backed her master up.

"Salem was expecting us." Karel said

"You did announce yourself to her." Velvet said.

"We'll hold the Sith off while you guys take on the Black Fang." Karel said

"Got it."

"Men, hold off the Grimm."

"Alright"

Karel turned on his lightsaber.

"Be careful Rouge." Karel said.

"I will."

* * *

The two lancers that came with the Fate user jumped towards Yatsuhashi. They jumped over him and started attacking Fox and Coco. The Fate user slammed the ground. Velvet was about to jump in to help Yatsuhashi when Ninth knocked her away.

"We need a fair fight." Ninth said.

Velvet spun around and kicked Ninth in the mask. Velvet jumped back, clenching her teeth.

"What's that made off?" She asked.

"Something strong."

Yatsuhashi and the Fate user circled each other.

"I've read about you. You inspired me." Yatsuhashi said.

"Well, let's hope that doesn't stop you." Fate rushed forward. Yatsuhashi blocked the attack. He pushed the blade up and started the swing that would have slammed Fate into the flame.

The Fate user negated Yatsuhashi's semblance with his own semblance.

"What?" Yatsuhashi asked.

Fate kicked Yatsuhashi across the ring of fire.

"My semblance cancels out any other semblance. Fate needs a truly fair fight to be passed on."

Yatsuhashi got back up on one knee.

"So this fight will only use skill."

"That's what it always comes down to."

* * *

Velvet jumped back and used her weapon to summon a sword.

"Good enough." She said. She dashed forward and started to swing at Ninth. Ninth blocked the attack with her daggers in an X shape. She pushed the sword away and connected the two daggers. She threw the daggers in the air and it turned into electric pike. She pulled out another dagger.

"All that to make another weapon." Velvet said. The sword disappeared. She got a mace. "Great." She mumbled to herself.

Velvet rushed forward, and tried to bash the dagger out of Ninth's hand, but the electric pike knocked the mace away. If the made was real, then she would have had a shock through her system.

"Light based weapons then." Ninth said. She detached the two daggers and took out four smoke bombs. She threw one of them at Velvet. The weapon changed to a bow. Velvet jumped back and fired three arrows. Ninth jumped back.

"So I've got to do a little more work to do." She said.

* * *

Karel blocked the hit from the lightsaber. He jumped backwards and sent a force push towards the sith. Rouge jumped up behind Karel and went to fight the sith. She just got pushed back. Karel caught her.

"You need to be more careful." Karel said.

"I will." She said. The Sith rushed towards them. Karel got ready to block the attack when the Sith slammed into the ground. Vuren jumped down.

"You didn't think I wouldn't notice a fight like this did you?"

"Kind of." Karel said.

The Sith got up and looked at the three jedi. He was about to run when he stopped.

"But, I can't take three on." He said out loud.

Vuren jumped next to Karel.

"What's happening?" Vuren asked

"I don't know" Karel said

"Should we be talking in the middle of a battle?" Rouge asked.

* * *

Coco had to move farther back than she liked. She hadn't even been able to get her weapon out. The Lancer was stronger than Coco thought he would be. She blocked a lance coming towards her with her weapon. The Lance bounced off her box. It would give her just enough time to take out her weapon. She did just that, and when the lancer got back from being staggered, he saw Coco's weapon on his stomach. He made a last strike, but Coco moved her head. The lancer cut off a strand of hair.

"Die!" She shouted. She started firing, and in a few seconds, the stomach of the lancer was gone. He fell to the ground, the black aura coming off of him.

"Finally." He said as he faded from the mortal plane.

Coco looked around her and knew her fight wasn't done yet. She was facing down an army of Grimm. She had a flashback to the failed mission. She clenched her teeth and started to open fire yelling as she did so.

Fox pushed the lancer off him. The lancer was aggressive. She almost landed a hit on him. He used his weapons to grip her weapon.

"My partner should have killed yours by now."

Fox didn't say anything. The Lancer pushed the lance closer to him. It was touching his cheek. The lancer make a small cut on his cheek. He had to finish this fight. He made an X motion with his arms, cutting the lance in two. The Lancer was falling towards him. He quickly moved his head up. He head-butted her nose. He threw her off and slashed upwards towards her right eye.

She held her eye with one hand and glared at Fox.

"Don't think you've got this one." She used the rest of her lance to try to hit Fox, but he cut it down every time she went to attack. With the last of her lance, she made sure it got stuck in Fox's weapon. Fox looked at her, but she was going to punch him, or so Fox thought.

When the fist was coming towards him, a hidden dagger came out from her wrist. Fox's eyes widened as he was stabbed in the shoulder. The Lancer was about to slice Fox's throat when the lancer's fingers were blast off. Then the hand was shot.

"Get away from him!" Coco said. The bullets moved up to the body. The lancer fell to the ground. Coco ran up to Fox and saw the blood coming out of his side. She started to freak out and grip the wound. She felt the blood leaving his body. Flashbacks flooded her mind. The once calm demeanor was gone.

"Don't go. Not again"

Fox pushed her off, and he slashed the chest of the lancer deep. The lancer got up in an attempt to kill Coco. She dropped her second hidden dagger, and fell to the ground. The dust came off the lancer, and the body was gone, with the black ooze coming out of the area.

Fox clenched his teeth, and fell to the ground, unconscious. Blood covered his shirt, and a small patch of grass.

"Medic!" Coco yelled with blood on her hands. She turned her hands over looked at Fox's blood on her hands. Her eyes looked shell-shocked. "Not again."

A medic from the group arrived.

"We'll take care of him."

* * *

Vuren and Karel blocked the attack of the Sith while Rouge went in for an attack. The Sith kicked Rouge back into a tree. Karel heard a noise come from her.

"Did she just…?"

Rouge got up, and she glowed. The area became light around her, and she multiplied into six different versions of herself.

"She did. She just unlocked her semblance and aura." The Sith turned around and cursed.

Rouge looked at the clones and they all shook their heads.

They all jumped forward to strike at the Sith. He used the force to push the clones away. Two of them knocked into each other, and disappeared. Karel made a quick cut to the Sith's hand, and made a slight cut. The Sith turned around and made another series of strikes. He blocked them and watched as Rouge threw her lightsaber. The Sith was too focused on Karel to notice the lightsaber enter his chest. Karel pushed up and sliced the sith in half.

"Good job Rouge." Karel said.

Vuren force pushed a Lion Grimm that was about to pounce on Karel.

"Keep your eyes open" Vuren said

* * *

Yatsuhashi and Fate connected blades. They locked blades.

"The battles seem to be settling down around us." Fate said.

"But we're nowhere near done." Yatsuhashi pushed fate back and slammed the ground. Rocks came out of the ground, some of it hitting the roof of the arena.

"Thirty meters high." Yatsuhashi said.

The Fate user jumped on a rock, and turned it to face Yatsuhashi, then jumped off it. He rushed towards Yatsuhashi. He got out of the way, and felt the ground shake. Fate rushed again towards Yatsuhashi. He tried to block it, but hadn't gotten time to find good footing. He was flung into the fire wall. He felt the fire starting to burn his back. He flinched and fell to the ground for a moment.

"You're strong for someone so young." Fate said.

"You're strong for someone who's meant to be dead." Yatsuhashi said.

Yatsuhashi slammed his sword into the fire. His blade caught on fire. He swirled it back around.

"Come on then!"

* * *

Ninth got Velvet to separate from the rest of the alliance forces. They were jumping through the trees when ninth stopped at a spot.

Velvet stopped and looked at the surroundings. She realized that she was alone. She didn't like it. Ninth went behind her, and pushed her. Velvet fell into a series of ropes. She could barely move. She fell right for her trap. She cursed herself for being too focused on the target. The weapon in her hand disappeared. Velvet stopped another one from coming to not waste her weapons.

Ninth jumped up to Velvet, and took out a dagger. Ninth felt Velvet's ears. Velvet looked back and her eyes opened wide with shock. She tried everything to get Ninth off of her. Ninth laughed. She gripped onto Velvet's hair.

"I'd like to take a little something." Ninth said

Velvet started to shake, but Ninth didn't flinch. Ninth took out a dagger and a marker. She marked out a triangle and placed the dagger to her rabbit ear.

"Don't" Velvet tried one last time to shake her off, but Ninth stayed on. She started to cut, and blood fell down. Velvet screamed.

"Almost done." Ninth said. Velvet screeched out in pain.

Ninth moved the dagger down, and sliced upwards with the same result. Velvet activated her weapon, and got Vuren's lightsabers. She opened her eyes, and cut herself free. Ninth fell to the ground, and Velvet was about to plunge the blade into ninth, but she got up quickly.

"I'll kill you for that." Velvet said. She spoke the words through clenched teeth and pain. Ninth held the part of her ear she cut off and showed it to her. Velvet screamed and rushed forward.

Ninth threw down smoke grenades and ran off

Velvet held onto her ear. Her blood covered her hand. She got back up, and worked through the pain. She went back to towards the battlefield but collapsed as she got to the battlefield.

* * *

Yatsuhashi was running low on energy and aura. If this fight was going to last much longer, than he wouldn't make it. He slammed the ground and rocks came up again. He flung them towards Fate, then took out fire dust. As Fate blocked the boulders, the dust activated, and fireballs came flying at him. He jumped up right below where Yatsuhashi was. He slammed his sword down.

Fate went flying towards the ground. Yatsuhashi took out all of his dust and activated them. The dust combined into a beam of energy that slammed into Fate. When Yatsuhashi landed he went to the fate user.

The fate user jumped up and placed his hands on Yatsuhashi's head. Yatsuhashi screamed as images flashed in his head. He felt like he was absorbing something, and the body of the fate user dissipated.

"You are now the master of Fate." Yatsuhashi heard in his head. He fell to his knees and collapsed.

* * *

The Grimm were beaten back. The ring of fire around Yatsuhashi fell. Karel looked over to Yatsuhashi and saw him on the ground. He ran over and grabbed him. The Fate user was gone, but the sword was still here.

"We did it."

Vuren saw Velvet collapsed on the ground. She ran up to her, and brought her to the medics.

"Report" Karel said to one of his troops.

"We lost twelve troops sir."

"A fifth of our forces. What about team CFVY?"

"Only the leader is responsive right now."

Karel's head shot up.

"What happened to the others?"

"We don't know yet"

Karel cursed himself. This was all his fault. He pushed them to join.

Coco came up to him.

"I… want to know something."

"Yes?"

"What this worth it?" She asked

Karel closed his eyes.

"I have no confident answer yet, but I do believe it was."

Coco put her hand on Karel's shoulder. It was still wet with Blood. When she lifted her hand up Karel looked at it.

"This blood was from Fox." She turned around and walked away.

* * *

 **Month 10 Day 08**

Karel gathered the new swordsmen minus team CFVY.

"We have beaten the first of the swordsmen, thought we paid a price. Fox and Velvet were greatly wounded, and Yatsuhashi has yet just woken up today. The effects of his victory are still being examined." Karel said

"So, we're one step closer." Ruby said

"Exactly." Bora said

"But it does give me pause. We almost lost our hunters. A sith was there for the fight, which Vuren, Rouge and I took on. Rouge unlocked her semblance and aura." Karel said.

"We may have to make sacrifices, but we were never expecting to not make them." Oscar said. "I know this may seem harsh, but we only lost twelve in that last fight. These swordsmen were able to stop an advancing army during the last war. They can kill thousands. Though we can't be focused on numbers, we can't lose sight that their sacrifices made it possible to save maybe thousands of lives."

"We aren't going to sacrifice people just to win." Yang said

"Sometimes we have to. It sucks I know, but this is war. Even this thing we are in a war. I wish there was a better way, but their isn't." Oscar said.

"I understand better than you know. We all do, but a life is important." Karel said.

"We all agree with that. But we can't run from a fight for fear of death." Oscar said. "I stand with you, I do. Just… when the last war came around, I was slow to go to battle and I lost almost everyone I loved."

"I think we all need to just calm down a moment. We're shaken, so that means we can't make any drastic moves here." Weiss said.

"Thank you Weiss." Phyrra said.

"So the question is… who's up next?" Jaune asked.

No one said anything.

"Well, the ball's on Salem's court now. And now that we have a solid victory against her… there's no saying when." Karel said.

Ruby raised her hand.

"Hey, um… we got the stones ready." Ruby said

"Oh, yeah, we did plan on that." Blake said.

"Well, we'll follow up with Coco, and hopefully have the rings and necklaces ready by next meeting." Karel said. Ruby took out a box, and handed a stone out to everyone in the room.

"Then… till next time." Oscar said.

"Actually… I do have an announcement." Bora said. She was blushing a little.

"What is it?" Oscar asked with a questioning look on her face.

"Well, I won't be able to fight for while… I'm pregnant." She said with a smile.

Nora coughed on her drink.

"Congratulations." Weiss said. She seemed the happiest in the room. Karel was confused by that. She looked like she was about to explode.

Everyone else congratulated Bora and Karel, then the meeting left. Weiss ran up to Bora.

"You seem happier to learn that I'm having a kid than I am." Bora said a bit nervously.

"Yeah, because I'll be an aunt." She said "I mean not by biology, but like you know, that doesn't matter. We've got so much work to do." She said

She wrapped her arm around Bora's and walked out of the building. Oscar walked up to Karel.

"I've lived for thousands of years, but that was new." Oscar said.

"Oscar… I do have a few questions for you."

"Of course, is this about Salem, being a dad, or something else?"

"I haven't been in class since the war started basically, so does that make me a drop out, or because of what I'm doing here, will I still graduate with the others?"

"Oh… school. Well this school is made to make highly skilled hunters, among other things… so if I was still the head master, I would let you graduate."

Karel grabbed his bag and took out a paper.

"This is the last thing I'll need to hand in, but I'm worried that I don't have enough credits. And I don't live on the campus anymore."

"I'd go to Goodwitch to see if you qualify." Oscar said

"One more thing. How will Salem react?"

Oscar sighed.

"Poorly. She hates losing almost as much as she hates me." Oscar ran his fingers through his hair. "And she'll be a bit reckless the next time she'll fight you. Be ready for her to send two swordsmen next time." Oscar warned.

Karel shook his head. He had an idea of which two she'll send, so he'll send out his two. Jaune and Phyrra were up next.

 _ **Author's Notes: Next one done. I'll give an explanation of what happened to Yatsuhashi in the next chapter.**_

 _ **It may have gotten a bit dark in this chapter, but you'll see later what happens.**_

 _ **Bora won't be fighting any time soon. But she's not done yet.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	29. Chapter 28: Sol and Luna

**Chapter 28**

 **Year 3 Month 2 Day 15**

 **Karel and Salem have gone into a fight against each other for the legendary swords. The new swordsmen are fighting against the Legendary swordsmen. Karel had won the first fight, with Yatsuhashi becoming the first of the new swordsmen.**

Karel and Bora were sitting on a bench together alone in the park. Bora was holding Karel's hand over where their child is growing inside of her. They sat there, being able to be a regular married couple. They didn't get to enjoy days like this very often.

"It's been one year." Bora said. She twisted her ring.

"It has." Karel said. Karel watched as another couple walked by, pushing a baby in a stroller. "That's going to be us in the not so distant future."

"The imperials have been less aggressive recently." He heard someone in the park say.

"Some are calling for the war to end now." Another man said

"Hey, happy anniversary." Karel took out a present.

"What is it?" Bora asked. She started to open it.

"Just a little something." Karel said.

She opened the box and saw two earrings and a necklace.

"One earring has the last of the stone that Oscar made, the other is made of fire dust." Karel said. Bora put the earrings in. She took out the necklace and put it on.

"Did you look at the symbol on the necklace?" Karel asked.

"No, what is it?"

"Well, it's your emblem." It was a sun. Karel lifted up a necklace he wore with the emblem of a moon.

"Opposites, a nice touch." Bora kissed Karel on the cheek.

* * *

Karel sighed as his scroll rang.

"Let's see what's going on." Karel said.

Karel looked and saw it was Pixi.

"What is it?" Karel asked.

"Sir, we found the Sol and Luna users in a field, what should we do."

Karel jumped up.

"What, how? Never mind, we'll do what we need to."

"Alright sir."

They ended the call.

"We found Sol and Luna. We need to get Jaune and Phyrra." Karel said.

"I should get back home." Bora said. "Do we have pickles?" She had been craving pickles for some time now.

"I think so. I'll send Rouge to help you if we don't."

"Thanks." Bora said. She gave Karel another kiss and started to walk home.

"Hey, Rouge, can you stay with Bora?" Karel asked, knowing his Padawan was in the tree above them the whole time.

"Yeah, sure." She said. She jumped down. "By the way, how'd you know I was up there?"

"Green leaves don't fall on their own." Karel said

"I'll be going now." Rouge turned around

Karel grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

"Not a shadow clone. The real Rouge." Karel said.

"Not a clone, a double, and I wouldn't do that to her. I'll do it to you though." Rouge said.

Two copies of Rouge dropped down.

"Alright, fine, let's go." Karel said

* * *

They went to get Jaune and Phyrra. They were in team JNPR's room.

"What is it?" Jaune asked tired. Phyrra was still sleeping

"We found Sol and Luna."

Jaune's eyes opened wide.

"Oh." He opened the door and poked Phyrra's face. She just smiled. A Rouge clone went up to Phyrra and whispered "Jaune just got out of the shower."

Phyrra's eyes shot open and she sat up, looking around. Rouge's clone started laughing. Phyrra looked at Jaune fully clothed and felt disappointed. She then became red.

"I told…" Phyrra put her hand on Rouge's clone, but she did it too tight, and the clone disappeared.

"What did she tell you?" Karel asked

"Nothing!" Phyrra said. She got out of bed "So, what is it?"

"We found Sol and Luna." Karel said.

"I see, so give me a minute, and I'll be ready to come out." Phyrra said. Karel and Jaune left the room.

"Sorry that this happened on your anniversary." Jaune said.

"Can't be helped." Karel said. Phyrra opened the door, and came out ready.

* * *

They went to Karel's ship and flew to where the 122nd was stationed. Jaune and Phyrra finished cups of coffee and ready to fight.

When they landed Pixi met them.

"Brigadier general Pixi, what's the situation?"

"Well, like I said, the two swordsmen are just sitting there in the field. Some of the troops from the 121st attacked them, but they're dead. So I ordered everyone to stand down." Pixi said

"Good job. Send in squads twelve to thirty and seven. Keep the rest in reserve. We don't know what's going to happen. It's very likely that they're going to cut off the troops from the fighters who take them on. So we need to surround them." Karel said

"Alright commander… and sir, we got the results from Yatsuhashi sir."

"What caused him to go into a coma for those few days?"

"Well… It was the addition to his aura. His body's aura doubled, and it seems to have added a secondary semblance, though we can't confirm it."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems that after killing the swordsmen, Yatsuhashi absorbed the aura. It seems that the use of the swords uses aura. So to use the sword, the amount of Aura has to be high." Pixi said

"I don't have an aura, so does that mean if I kill one of them I would absorb their aura?"

"We don't know until it happens sir."

"And the imperials?"

"We don't see…"

The corridor became red

"Attention all personnel, imperial forces have arrived, repeat imperial forces have arrived." The announcement played

"Never mind then. Yes imperial forces have been seen." Pixi said.

Karel rubbed his chin.

"Do we have communications with the 121st legion?"

"Yes sir." Pixi said

"Tell our plans to send out four divisions. We'll be sending out the first four divisions, then ask them to do the same. Do we have any other hunters or Jedi around?" Karel asked

"We do have Yin Yellowfield"

"Alright, he'd a sniper if I'm not mistaken, so get him into position."

"Alright sir." Pixi turned around. Karel looked at Jaune and Phyrra.

"Get ready for your fight." Karel said

* * *

Vox waited in her room to receive the news of the battle against the pirates. A Grimm came into the room while she wasn't looking. She turned around, and saw the Grimm die, and out of the smoke came the image of Salem.

"The commander of the 122nd will be at the fields of melancholy tomorrow. It will be the best chance you have to take him down."

"The fields of melancholy?" She looked confused.

"They aren't called that anymore, but you'll know them by the green hills of Vale."

"Is that what they're called? Doesn't seem to be to creative." Vox said

"That doesn't matter. I'm trying to tell you that if you go there, you'll have the chance to take out multiple threats at once." Salem said.

"I'll send people there." Vox said.

The smoke left.

"Why is she telling me this? I don't like this relationship."

Zia knocked on the door.

"Vox, we killed those pirates." Zia said

"Who was in control?"

"We got the name Hamilton on both of the leaders. One of them is dead, but we do have one of them." Zia said.

"Good, we'll get the answers out of them."

"By the way, I think Soule would like to know something." Vox said with a smile.

* * *

Karel felt his enemy and sometimes friend, Darth Soule.

"See if you can get another Jedi on the scene. We may need it." Karel shouted to Pixi. She gave a thumbs up.

"But I'm here." Rouge's clone said.

"You're not as powerful as Rouge. We're going to face Soule out here." Karel said, putting his hand to his chin.

Soule with Zia and Sno took a speeder to get close to the two standing in the field. One of them turned around to look at Soule.

"Are you here to challenge us?" One of them said

"I don't know who you are. I'm just waiting for someone." Soule said watching the speeder coming. His troops and Karel's were preparing for the battle, and all it would take would be the command to fire. Soule saw Karel coming towards him. He stood there with his arms folded.

Karel came with his padawan, Jaune and Phyrra. They got of their speeder.

"Are you the one who wants to challenge us?" Luna asked.

"No, but they are." Karel pointed to Jaune and Phyrra. They moved closer to Sol and Luna. Carmine Angel appeared out of nowhere, and created a barrier. She used a portal from Salem to leave immediately afterwards. Jaune and Phyrra were stuck in there in the dark. Though it did seem that some light escaped. There was a dim glow in there arena, just light enough that they could see Sol and Luna.

* * *

Karel stood there holding his head down.

"I wanted to watch the fight." Karel said, holding his hands above his head.

"I can kill you here if you want." Soule said.

"Hey where's Bora?" Zia asked

"Oh, she's back home." Karel said, forgetting that he was talking to his enemy. Sno and Rouge looked at each other confused.

"Is she sick?" Zia asked.

"No, she's pregnant. I'm going to be a dad soon." Karel said with a smile on his face. "I wish I could be home right now because it's my anniversary, but we've got a war to fight." said offhandedly.

"Oh, tell her I said congratulations." Zia said

"I will." Karel said. Soule looked completely dumbfounded at his wife.

Karel started to walk off.

"Hey, we're not done here." Soule said

"We'll fight with the rest of our troops. So I'd suggest that you get back to your troops. That's what I'm doing." Karel got back on the speeder and went back to his men.

* * *

"Alright, we're doing this, men! We've got to keep this hill on our side. The top of the hill holds the battle that we're covering for. Both sides are at the disadvantage, so whoever takes the hill takes the battle. Legion 121 has grenadiers on their side who will act as mortars. We've got our squadron of bombers under Major Iron. Our fighters will launch when we get started." Karel said.

Jaune stood with his sword in one hand, and lance in another.

"How are we doing this?" Jaune asked.

"Well, we go after who we are meant to." Phyrra said.

"Alright." Jaune spun his sword in his hand.

"Remember, Sol uses light to its advantage. Luna uses darkness, so there is just enough for both of them to use their abilities." Phyrra said.

"I got it." Jaune said. He rushed forward, and met with the Luna user. She just batted him back. Jaune placed his lance in the ground stopping him from losing balance.

"What were their abilities again?" Jaune asked.

"Why don't we show you?" Sol asked.

Karel led his forces up the hill. When he got to the top he saw the imperials rushing forward. He saw an imperial drop. Then another.

"Hey, commander, can you move to the left?" Yin asked him.

Karel did and he saw another three troops drop.

"Good job." He said

"I know." Yin said. Yin continued to fire, and each hit was deadly accurate.

* * *

The grenadiers were doing their job well. They were able to stay on the hill for a few minutes. Then the imperial sent out bombers.

"Where are those fighters?" Karel shouted in his comm.

"We're sending them now sir." Major Velvet said. She sent the fighters out.

Karel jumped out of the way as the bombers started to drop their bombs. After Karel rolled he saw three guns in his face. He made a quick swipe, and watched as the troops fell. He used a force push to knock another two back down the hill.

"Don't do anything stupid in their guys" Karel said.

* * *

Sol absorbed the darkness in the area, causing the arena they were fighting in to be completely light. Jaune and Phyrra covered their eyes for a moment, but that was enough for Sol to rush Phyrra. She got hit and started to fall to the ground. When she hit the ground, she made two roots shoot up from the ground and catch her. They caught her and got her back to her feet.

"You alright Phyrra?" Jaune asked.

"Just fine." She said. She got an idea. She swung her shield at the side of the arena, and it bounced to hit the Luna user. She ran at Sol and ducked under his swing. Jaune threw his lance at the ground by her. Phyrra used it to toss her body to right next to her shield. She spun around, and blocked a hit from Sol. It was a concentrated blast of darkness. She was flung back to the wall of the arena. She slammed her fist, and roots shot out of the ground, wrapping Sol's legs together.

"That won't work." Luna said. She absorbed the darkness of the room and rushed at Jaune. He made a defensive swing to block the sword. Jaune took a few steps back and took out his shield. He blocked the hits, seeing his shield getting chipped away.

He pushed up when Luna was about to bring her sword down. She staggered back. She watched as Jaune was about to stab her. She touched the guard of her blade and was able to make a glove made of light. She caught Jaune's sword. Jaune looked up in shock. She broke the blade, then kicked Jaune back. Phyrra caused a pumpkin to appear to catch Jaune. It broke. Luna jumped up and tried to slam her blade into Jaune. He held his shield up. Luna drove through the shield. It stopped an inch from Jaune's eyes. He kicked up, kicking Luna in the stomach. He rushed towards his lance and got ready for the rest of his fight. Luna shoved the shield off her sword. She looked up and saw Jaune with his lance. She smirked as Jaune rushed forward.

Phyrra jumped in the air trying to get behind Sol, but she was hit by another blast. She rolled on the ground, having the breath knocked out of her. Sol rushed forward, and tried to get a strike at Phyrra, but her shield blocked it. The sword left a dent in it. Phyrra pushed Sol away and changed her sword into the rifle mode. She fired twice at Sol. The first shot hit his side, but the black void that came out of the sword surrounded him. A fist formed in the blackness and shot out at Phyrra. She jumped up and landed on the arm. She rushed forward and stabbed her spear into the blackness.

Jaune used his new skills with the lance to keep himself in the fight. He blocked with the length of the lance, and made a quick motion with his arms, bringing the lance's head around, landing a hit on Luna's face.

She created a dagger out of the light, and rushed Jaune. He couldn't block both, so he went on the retreat, never turning around. He did his best, but he soon found that he didn't have room. He blocked the sword, but Luna was able to stab him with the dagger. Jaune hit her arm, so instead of his heart, she was only able to get his shoulder, but that means he only had one arm. He was also in a lot of pain. He went to grab the dagger, but it vanished when he touched it. Jaune only had one option left, and he didn't like it. He got a punch in on Luna and grabbed what was left of his sword.

* * *

Karel dodged the bombs that were being dropped and found that he was being surrounded.

"Too far." He said as he jumped back. He blocked the bullets that went for him till he was back at the top of the hill. His troops had secured the hill a little while ago. He saw Soule and Sno coming towards him. Rouge's clone was next to him. He was shocked that she was still around.

"Sir, we've received those Jedi reinforcements you asked for." Pixi said.

"Good. Try to get them to me."

"Sending them coordinates." Pixi flew past in her Valisan fighter. It was a mix of the Tie fighter, with some special mix from Vale. They were slowly replacing the Tie fighters that Vale produced at the start of the war. This fighter had a shield, unlike the tie fighter, and was almost as easy to create.

Karel liked them better since he wasn't constantly reminded of the imperials. Sno snuck up on them and tried to get the jump on Karel. He blocked the hit. Sno jumped to fight rouge's clone. Soule rushed forward. Karel blocked the hit. He was holding back for some reason.

"Do you know where the fall maiden is?"

"You mean Raven's right hand?" Karel watched as a drop ship flew above them.

"No idea. When Raven left, she did too."

Two Jedi jumped down. Meg and her apprentice.

Meg took on an apprentice shortly after Rouge and her met. Meg's apprentice was a human male, just a little bit older than Rouge. His name is Dan Rosa. His took out his orange lightsaber. His orange hair stood out.

He winked at Rouge. Karel felt like he needed to have a talk with the boy.

Meg force pushed Soule, Sno made her move. She slashed at Rouge and hit her. The clone turned back into cloud.

"What?" Dan sent Sno flying.

Soule looked at the two Jedi in front of him.

"Zia, what do you think?" He said into a comm.

An imperial troop fired at Karel. Meg used her semblance to slow down time. She sent the bullet back to the sender.

"Got it." Soule pressed a button, and two bombers were coming right at them. Meg grabbed Dan and rolled to the side. Karel rolled the other way.

* * *

Soule and Sno were gone. They moved onto another part of the battle. It was obvious that the alliance was winning this fight. Almost as if on cue, Pixi flew by, taking down two imperial fighters.

"Remember, no fancy flying." Karel said

"Alright sir." Pixi said.

The Alliance had complete control of the hill. The imperials were starting to retreat. They were slowly pushed back. Karel ordered a final bombing run. They took out any heavy weapons left. The imperials got back to the ships and started to fly away.

Meg went up to Karel.

"What happened with Rouge?" Meg asked.

"Nothing. That wasn't Rouge at all. Just a bunch of shadows." Karel said.

"She unlocked her semblance?"

"Yeah. It's great isn't it." Karel said

Dan came up to Meg.

"Master, there you are."

"What is it?"

"What happened to that girl?" He asked.

"Nothing. She wasn't here." Karel said

"But I saw her."

"It was what I call a shadow clone, but she calls it her double team." Karel said. He walked over to the black orb at the top of the hill It still hadn't fallen. Karel was worried about Jaune and Phyrra.

* * *

Jaune took another hit, this time across his lips. He didn't have much left in him. Luna went for the killing blow and raised her sword in the air. Jaune jumped at her and grabbed her arm. He headbutted her nose. She gripped her nose and loosed her grip on Luna. Jaune grabbed her arm. Luna kneed Jaune in the stomach. Jaune gripped Luna's hand with everything he had. With his free hand he tried to stab her, but she gripped his arm. She dropped Luna and he dropped his sword. Luna let go of his arm and grabbed his neck. She used her weight to knock them both to the ground. She got up on Jaune's chest and started to punch Jaune. After another punch, Jaune shock to the left with all his might. She was knocked off. Jaune turned back and found what remained of his sword. He also picked up Luna, but it became dull when he touched it. He slammed it into the ground and rushed Luna who had gotten up at this time. Jaune's blade entered her armor in her side. Luna fell to one knee and held onto her wound. Jaune grabbed her head and brought his knee to meet it. She fell to the ground.

"I'm going to end it here." Jaune dropped to one knee and took out his sword. Luna couldn't move. Jaune raised his sword up. As he was about plunge it into her heart when he got hit by a blast of darkness. He coughed up blood. He looked up and saw Phyrra jump on the fist. She ran up to where it came, and she plunged her spear into it. The blackness faded as Sol had a spear in his chest. It pierced his lung. Luna turned around and opened her eyes wide.

Jaune got up with his sword in hand. He was slowly and watched as Phyrra took out her spear and switched it to a sword. She plunged her sword into Sol's heart. His hand shot up to her head. Jaune watched as his body faded. Phyrra fell to one knee. Luna went for her weapon, but she couldn't pull it out. Jaune stabbed her in the shoulder. She turned around, and he got ready to end it. He stabbed what was left in the sword in her chest. She let out a final noise. She touched Jaune's face.

Jaune saw the images fly past him. He saw Luna's life. She saw Sol's sister. He learned how to use Luna. Once the vision was over, Jaune fell to one knee. He grabbed the sword out of the ground and fell to the ground.

The arena came down.

Karel came over to them. He saw Jaune in a terrible shape. Phyrra got up, and grabbed Sol. She was shaking.

"I understand now." Phyrra said. She started to fall, but Karel caught her. "Get these two to the medics!"

Karel went over to Jaune.

"You look terrible, but you did good. Get some rest."

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 20**

Jaune woke up. Karel was in his room, talking to Phyrra. Jaune started to get up.

"You're up." Karel said.

"What happened?" Jaune asked.

"You did it. You're the new Luna user." Karel said.

"Then… that explains why I feel so bad." Jaune said.

"No, I'd say that's because you were beat and stabbed." Karel said. Karel got a mirror and handed it to Jaune. He saw the scar over his lips. Phyrra came over. She was holding Sol. The red blade gleamed in the sun light.

Jaune started to get up, but his side hurt.

"For a few days, you're going to hurt, but don't worry that'll stop hurting soon. With an aura as high as yours, that won't be a problem." Karel said.

"I don't get it." Jaune said.

"Well… how do I say it… your aura has doubled." Karel said.

"how's that possible?" Jaune asked

"It's from Luna. She gave you all her aura, and semblance. It stacked on top of yours, so, if you haven't unlocked your semblance, it should be unlocked." Karel said "And it has. Congratulations, we know your semblance."

"What is it?"

"You've amplified the healing abilities of your aura." Karel said.

A nurse came in the room.

"Thank you." Karel turned around. "See you later guys." Karel waved to Phyrra and Jaune.

* * *

Karel got to the room where his wife was. They were learning the gender of their baby.

"Sorry for taking so long." Karel said. "Jaune's awake."

"Now, let's see about this baby." The doctor said.

Karel and Bora saw the baby for the first time. Karel felt his heart in his throat. He held Bora's hand.

The doctor got a good look at the baby.

"Alright you two, I've got an answer for you." The doctor turned around.

"Which one was it again?" He said. He pulled out a balloon. He blew it up and tied. He turned around and gave it to Bora.

"It's a Girl!" She said.

"Congratulations."

* * *

 **Month 2 Day 21**

The swordsmen came back together.

"We've got three down. Two to go, but these next to are more dangerous." Oscar said.

"Silence, and Oblivion." Oscar flinched when Weiss talked about Oblivion. Karel understood it, since it did kill him a few years ago.

"Are you ready Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"For sure." Weiss said.

"What about you Karel?" Ruby asked.

"I've got people to live for. I won't go down." Karel said.

"So… what about the baby?" Weiss asked

"Do you want to know the gender of the baby is?" Weiss asked excitedly.

"Yeah, but I think Bora gets to decide if we tell." Karel said

"We can reveal it here." Bora said. "We're having a girl."

 _ **Author's notes: So the reason this took so long is because of computer problems. But this next chapter is the last of this arc. Then after that things will get exciting.**_

 _ **See you soon.**_

 _ **Also, we got that new trailer with Rey and Kylo fighting.**_

 _ **May the Force be With You**_

 _ **-DragonZlayerx12**_


	30. Chapter 29: Oblivion and Silence

**Chapter 29**

 **Year 3 Month 4 Day 6**

 **Karel and Weiss started sparring for their inevitable fights. Oblivion and Silence were the next two swords that the new swordsmen are seeking after.**

Karel and Weiss didn't say anything. The battlefield was selected, forest and city. The Vytal festival may have not happened, but the alliance brought the arena back to working order for the troops to fight in. Bora and Rouge were in the stands. The arena was cleared for this fight, though it wasn't in heavy use today. Rouge jumped between the two combatants and dropped her hand. She quickly jumped back to watch the fight.

Weiss started by creating shards of ice dust. She sent them at Karel, who matched the hits. He sliced one shard in half and started to rush forward. He realized that he was slower suddenly and looked down. He had stepped on one of Weiss' glyphs. The time glyph caused him to have to change up tactics. He used the force to send himself in the air. While his hand was slow, the glyph didn't have the power to stop the force. Karel launched himself into the air. He looked up and was met with a face full of rock. Weiss had sent up a rock at him. He brought his sword up and hit the rock. He held on it as it fell to the ground. As it was about to hit the ground, or in this case, a tree, Karel jumped away. He didn't get his sword. The tree was knocked down and his sword was out of his reach. Blasts of fire came rushing at him. Karel reached out with the force and quickly got his sword. He had to be more careful if he didn't want to get trapped by Weiss again.

He made a quick scan of the arena. Weiss hadn't moved. He counted and knew that Weiss was going to have to reload the dust soon. He jumped from tree to tree. Weiss hit the ground with ice. She had one more shot. Karel used the force to push him forward. He didn't reach Weiss before she hit the ice with fire, creating a cloud.

Karel closed his eyes and felt out to the force for Weiss. He heard a noise behind him, so he sent out force push. He hit a Grimm. It dissipated. Weiss was getting better at summoning.

Karel gathered energy in himself and let out a force pulse. The mist cleared away, but in its place were six Grimm that Weiss summoned. Karel turned around and looked for the Weiss but couldn't find her. One of the Grimm charged at Karel. He spun around and drove his sword into its head. He quickly took it out and started fighting the other Grimm.

Weiss watched as the Grimm fought Karel. She quickly changed the dust and took a breath. She placed the last Glyph for her trap. Now to give herself away.

After Karel took out the second to last Grimm, he turned to the last one. It went towards one of the buildings.

"Weiss"

Karel charged forward and threw hit sword into the room. Weiss jumped. Karel stopped running as he saw all the glyphs for a second. He was surrounded. He was stuck. Weiss created an arm, and gripped Karel's leg. She threw him into a glyph. He was flung from glyph to glyph He lost focus, then he hit the final glyph. It sent him to the room where Weiss was. When he hit the wall he gasped, getting the air knocked out of him. Weiss looked at him and winced.

"Sorry." She said. She reached her hand out. Karel grabbed it, then grabbed her other arm. He used her to get up. He grabbed Weiss' sword and used the force to get his own. Weiss turned back and saw her own weapon in her face. She started to make a glyph behind Karel, he slammed his sword in it.

"I won't fall for that again." Weiss' eyes darted around the room. Then she met Karel's again.

"I've won." Karel said. Weiss' shoulders fell. Karel held his hand out. Weiss grabbed it.

* * *

"I was close." Weiss said. She took her weapon and put it away. They jumped out of the building. Winter was sitting next to Bora and Rouge.

"Winter!" Weiss called out. She was clapping.

"Weiss, you've gotten a lot better." Winter said. Weiss felt good about the praise. It was rare to hear from her family.

"Winter, why don't you and Weiss spend some time together." Bora said. Winter and Weiss went on the air ship that brought them to the arena. Rouge gave Karel a towel.

"Thanks." Karel wiped away the dirt and sweat.

"You rushed right into that trap." Bora said, handing Karel a water. She rubbed his back.

"Best way to spring a trap, right?" He said jokingly.

"That seems like a really bad idea" Rouge said.

"Yeah it is. That how we lost battles." Bora said.

Karel took a few sips.

"Rouge have you done your exercises today yet?" Karel asked. She got up made two doubles of herself. She ran to the exit, while the others stopped a tired Karel.

"I just remembered that Dan and I agreed to do stuff." She yelled. The two doubles vanished. Karel sat down and shook his head.

"What is with her recently?" Karel asked.

"Don't tell me you don't see it." Bora said.

"What do you mean?" Karel said.

"They like each other. They're going on a date right now." Bora said

Karel looked at the exit, then back to his wife.

"Are you sure?" Karel said

"Positive" Bora said with a smile on her face. "Now…" Bora grabbed Karel's hand and placed it on her stomach. "Names?"

"Only one has come to mind. Jade Lone."

Bora looked up "Not Allusis?"

"Well, it can be a middle name, but I think really, what has my last name done for me? Yours will suit her better."

"I like it, but where's that name from?" Bora asked.

"From my Jedi master." Karel said with a smile.

Bora thought about it. Her face came to a smile.

"I like it." Bora said. "Also, you need to fix the clock in the living room."

"What's wrong with it?" Karel asked

"It's stuck." Bora said

"I guess I can do that. I wish we had a droid to do that sort of stuff." Karel said. Then he got an idea. "I'll get a few droids to keep the house when we're gone."

"Do you know how much a droid cost?"

"Only ten thousand Lien. We got a lot more than that."

"But we've got to save some for Jade." Bora said

"We have more than enough. Besides, I'll buy them. You don't have to worry." Karel said

"Alright, but not too many."

"How about two."

* * *

Winter and Weiss were walking side by side.

"This is a bold strategy. But I think it can work." Winter said. She was holding the ring made for her. She chose it over the necklace. She used it once and was met with four black fang troops that she took out.

"But it's high risk." Weiss said

"I believe in you. You're just as good as I am." Winter said. Weiss looked shocked.

"Hey, I told you that one day this would happen. I just didn't know that it would be so soon. You're ready for this fight ahead of you… whenever it is." Winter said.

"Thanks." Weiss said.

"You got it."

* * *

 **Month 4 Day 21**

Karel just finished making dinner for his wife when he got a message on his scroll. He looked at his scroll and his eyes widened. Bora got a bowl of the soup when she looked over at Karel's scroll.

"Silence and Oblivion. You need to get out there now." Bora said as she put the bowl down.

"Thanks for understanding. I'll be back after we beat them." Karel put on his gauntlet and took two of his lightsabers. Bora grabbed Karel's sword and handed it to him.

"Get back here in one piece." Bora said

"Or course." Karel said, giving Bora a quick kiss and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Karel sent out a message to Ruby to get her team ready. Team RWBY was sparing with team SSSN, but they stopped, and rushed towards the shipyard. Weiss switched out her dust and got ready for her fight.

Karel met up with the other hunters and got ready for the fight ahead. They boarded his ship and Yang took the pilot seat.

"What's the plan?" Weiss asked.

"First things first, we're going to Mount Glenn. We have troops holding that area. Ruby, Sun, both of you are coming with me. Everyone else is going with you Weiss." Karel said

"Why are so many fighting with me?" Weiss asked

"Because Silence is particularly deadly. Remember, if you get hit, you lose your aura and semblance." Karel said.

"And oblivion destroys the cells if it hits you. That's what killed Ozpin." Ruby said

"I understand that. But that's a risk I can take." Karel said no more. Soon the ship was able to land, and everyone got out. They rushed to the frontlines where Silence and Oblivion were fighting the troops. The droids stationed to guard the gates were destroyed quickly. The troops were left to hold the city.

* * *

Karel turned on his blue lightsaber and jumped in the air. He force pushed Silence away then swung and Oblivion. Oblivion jumped away and smirked as he started to run towards the field. Karel started to run towards Oblivion away from the battlefield, followed behind by Ruby and Sun. Silence got back up and snapped her fingers. Dozens of Black Fang troops arrived.

"Your fight is with us." Weiss said.

The troops starting fighting against each other. Bullets rained down. Silence waved her hand and created a bubble where no noise can come through. Scarlet reached up to his throat. His eyes widened, and Silence rushed. She found her target.

Sage realized what was about to happen. He rushed forward and went in front of Scarlet. He got sent back out, hitting Scarlet out of the bubble.

"We can't talk in there. What are we going to do?" Scarlet asked.

"We've trained for this. We've got to remember the signs." Sage said. Scarlet rushed back into the bubble. He noted how there seemed to be no bullets inside.

Yang turned on her lightsaber and rushed towards Silence. She blocked the hit and Grabbed at her shirt. Silence fell on her back and threw Yang. Yang got up and felt a push. She was sent backwards. Silence winked at Yang, showing Yang her palm, with a small symbol. Yang didn't like Silence; thought she did remind her of someone.

Blake rushed forward, getting a copy ready. Silence brought up her sword up and made a stabbing motion. The ice copy was made as Blake jumped into the air. Silence felt slower somehow. She quickly looked down and saw a glyph. She remembered her challenger. She quickly made a silent snap. A random undead soldier came out and took the hit. Blake was coming towards Silence. She wouldn't be able to block another attack. Yang used the force to move Blake, but she could only do so much. Blake was scratched by Silence and felt herself draining.

Weiss was finishing up her trap when Blake fell to the ground. Weiss quickly created another invisible glyph around Blake, then she summoned four Beowulf. They charged Silence to distract her. Neptune came up to Weiss with his weapon in its gun mode. He took aim at Silence and waited. The last of the summoned Grimm were slain when Neptune fired. Silence jumped and rushed towards them. Weiss was ready. One more step and her trap would be sprung. Sage and Scarlet rushing passed the two of them. Weiss couldn't tell them to stop and watched as Sage activated the trap. He was flung forward towards Silence.

Silence grabbed Sage, along with his sword. Silence looked at Weiss as she stabbed Sage with his own sword. The weapon didn't break his aura. Silence rolled her eyes as she slammed Sage into the ground. Silence heard what Weiss said.

"Take this!" She yelled to herself, or so she thought. Silence could hear everything going on in this bubble. It was her domain.

* * *

Oblivion stopped. The plains were going to be a perfect place for this battle. He let his sword drop on the ground, leaving behind dead grass. Oblivion jumped and turned around. Karel, Ruby and Sun stopped running. Karel matched stance with Oblivion. Ruby took out her lightsaber and Sun made his staff.

"Three on one. Let's make this interesting." Oblivion's hand glowed and the light left his hand. It touched the ground. It began to shake. Sun looked down. He was right on top of the black mark. He jumped out of the way just in time. A giant Ray of darkness came out of the ground. Ruby pressed onto her necklace and pressed it to the wall of darkness. The necklace dispelled the wall of darkness. Oblivion reached out in the air and grabbed a feather.

"Hm. That's new. Let's see what it can do." Oblivion said. He crushed the feather, and a giant nest appeared. Oblivion looked around just as confused.

"Okay… this is weird" Sun said

"Eyes up!" Oblivion said as he was about to plunge his blade into Sun's chest. Ruby and Karel used the force to pull him away. Ruby used her semblance to run up behind Oblivion and try to get a hit on him. He blocked the hit. Ruby was surprised for a second that she didn't cut through the blade.

"Remember, I got an upgrade." Oblivion punched Ruby in the nose. She staggered back, holding her hand to her nose for a moment, then quickly switched off her lightsaber. She switched to Crescent Rose, firing it at Oblivion. Sun jumped forward with his whole-body weight. Oblivion was thrown off balance and dropped his sword. Oblivion elbowed Sun in the face, then held his hand out. He got string.

"Might as well." Oblivion said. Oblivion gripped the item and hit sin with it. Sun felt his body stop working. Oblivion pushed him off as rope tied Sun up. Oblivion kicked Sun away, then slammed the ground with his sword. The nest disappeared. Karel used the force to pull Oblivion towards him. Oblivion held out his hand again and got a marble like ball with electricity in the center of it. Oblivion blocked the sword that he took out. Then he crushed the marble and held his hand out towards Karel. Karel got hit by electricity. He winced and took a step back.

"Just a cheap imitation." Karel said. He held out his sword but saw that there was a black mark on it. His eyes widened as the sword broke apart. The black mark was going down the whole sword. Karel threw it as it broke into pieces.

Ruby ran behind Oblivion. She swung and hit him. He turned around quickly and made a spinning roundhouse kick, which landed on her side. He was about to thrust his sword down into Ruby when Karel fired a combined shot at Oblivion. It hit him, sending him flying.

He landed on the ground as Ruby and Karel got up. Oblivion smiled. The black dust was coming out of his side. His hand was covered in a dark aura and he placed his hand on his wound, healing himself.

"And for my next trick." Oblivion slammed the ground with his sword and stretched his arms to his sides. Out of his hands came two orbs of darkness. Karel and Ruby looked at each other. They rushed forward. Oblivion combined the two orbs and launched the energy at the ground. A cylinder formed around Ruby, Karel, and Oblivion. "Man, Salem has some sweet tricks. Don't worry, this fight won't last too much longer at this point."

Oblivion looked like a male version of Salem at this point. He turned around with his glowing red eyes. His voice had gone down as well. He ran his hands through his hair, covering his head with a helmet. Ruby and Karel's necklaces started to glow. They both got a protective layer of armor around them. They looked at each other.

"Oh, I see now, this is a battle for the Gods. I heard of these when I was alive. Thought that was just made up to scare little kids." Silence said.

Karel and Ruby rushed Oblivion, light clashing against dark.

* * *

Weiss cursed to herself. Somehow Silence knew where the attack was coming from. She watched as Silence started at her. Weiss did her best not to look at Yang as she was coming down towards Silence, but Silence sidestepped Yang's attack. When Yang landed on the ground, silence brought her leg high into the air, and brought it down onto Yang's exposed back. Yang was sent to the ground. Weiss rushed forward. She covered the dirt with ice dust then switched the chamber to the fire dust. She fired at the ground, causing a fog.

Silence watched as the blond girl escaped from her grasp. She didn't pay it too much attention. She had to take out another four opponents. The boy she attacked earlier still had some fight in him. She was impressed by that. Silence clapped, only known to her. She captured the energy from the sound and stored it in her palms. She stretched them out and sent the wave out. She could see her enemies now. She decided to take out the red-haired boy next. She charged using the noise from outside to launch herself towards him. The injured green haired boy moved in the way of Silence as blocked her again, but this time, that wouldn't work. She broke his sword, with a part of it coming towards his face. The blade cut his cheek. While her charge was stopped, her enemy in front of her was now defenseless. She made a quick flick, as the remaining of the boy's sword was flung out of his hand, and she made a quick jab motion.

The blade hit the other side of his face, and he felt his aura break. Sage's knees buckled under him. He looked up to see Silence smirking. She raised her sword in the air and thrusted it down.

Sage felt as the blade entered his chest. He looked down and saw the blade sticking out of his chest. His lung was hit. He was a dead man. He let his arms fall to his side. Silence walked over and placed a hand on his head.

"I can hear you." She sent the message. Sage pulled out a knife and slashed Silence's hand. She took a step back, retrieving her sword. Yang and Weiss attacked Silence enough to push her back. Yang's eyes were a bright red, and she burned gold.

Scarlet and Neptune came running up to Sage. Blood covering him.

Sage mouthed the secret.

She can hear you. He took the necklace he got and tried to rip it off, but he didn't have the strength.

He mouthed one last sentence.

"I can see my family." Sage closed his eyes and went limp.

Neptune and Scarlet held their teammate's hands as he left. Scarlet kissed his hand and closed his eye lids

Neptune got up, trident in hand and ran towards Silence. Scarlet grabbed Sage's necklace and put it on. He started running towards Silence as well.

Blake opened her eyes and saw the body of Sage. Her eyes widened in shock. She wanted to do something, but she had no energy to fight. She resigned to being on the sidelines this time.

Weiss noticed that Silence was getting weaker. She tried to do that thing with her hand, but it seemed that when she tried, it backfired. Weiss noticed that Silence seemed to have a broken arm. Yang landed a hit on Silence's back, sending her flying. She rolled on the ground, looking up. Her troops were almost all gone. She turned her head and saw a pillar of darkness.

Silence got up and placed her sword in the ground and sent out a series of sound-based attacks. Almost like bullets. She took a step back and landed on one of Weiss' hidden glyphs. It sent Silence flying. Weiss stopped, and smiled. She waved her hand up, and all the hidden glyphs showed themselves. They encircled Silence as she was bouncing back and forth. Silence sent out more of the sound bullets, destroying a few of the glyphs. Weiss dropped them when Silence had enough. Weiss went over to Silence and before she was able to get back up, Weiss stabbed her through the heart. The last of the black fang troops were killed, and the bubble disappeared.

Silence reached up with her good arm and placed her hand on Weiss' head. Weiss felt herself get more powerful. She learned everything she needed to know. She learned how to use her new gifts. She felt a pain in the palms of her hands. After the trance she was in was over, she stood over a black spot. She grabbed her new sword and fell to one knee. Yang rushed over to her.

"Are you okay?" Yang asked.

Weiss, tired, but filled with confidence, shook her head. She couldn't talk right now. She was gathering her breath. She looked down to her shaking hands and saw a black circle on her palms. She knew that these were one of the gifts Silence left her. Weiss looked up at the field. She pointed at the dark pillar.

"Ruby… Blue…" She fell to the ground.

Yang held Weiss.

"I hope you're okay Ruby."

* * *

Ruby used her semblance to get behind Oblivion. He kicked her in the chest. The armor of light took most of the damage, and her semblance took the rest. Ruby gripped her scythe and rushed Oblivion. He turned his attention to her as he blocked her attack. Oblivion gripped Ruby's face and knocked her weapon away. He started punching her. Karel took out his lightsaber and threw it. Oblivion dropped Ruby down, leaving a mark in the ground. Karel used the force to get his lightsaber back.

Oblivion got rose petal. It turned black at his touch and it fell to the ground. A dark plant came out of the ground, wrapping Karel in vines. The vine grew thorns. The armor took the damage. Karel pressed the necklace and the darkness of the root vanished, but the root itself stayed. Karel made a quick cut, freeing his legs. Oblivion was in front of him. He swung quickly, almost too quickly for Karel to block. He was getting pushed back.

Ruby fired at Oblivion. He was thrown off, almost getting a lightsaber across his chest, but Oblivion dodged the lightsaber. He pushed Karel into the edge of the darkness, which caused a lot of pain. Karel screamed. Oblivion got gem shard. He smiled and crushed it. His body was able to push itself farther, make him faster. He dodged the bullets and rushed to Ruby. She got on her knee and blocked the incoming kick to her face with her arms. The power of the gem made the kick harder. Ruby knew that if she wasn't wearing the armor she was, her arms would have been broken then and there. Ruby tried to use her semblance to get away from him, but he reached out and grabbed her by the chest armor. He spun around three times and threw Ruby into the wall of darkness.

Karel saw Ruby get flung into the darkness and knew the pain she was in. He rushed forward and sent a force push at Oblivion. He jumped up and avoided the blast. He spun around in the air and got ready for his next attack. When he landed, he left a large dent in the ground. Karel jumped back, but not far enough. He got the very edge of the attack. He felt his left arm start to go numb. Blood started to fall down his arm. He used the force to help him use his arm. Karel rushed forward to match Oblivion. Karel went to form I with limited success. He was only able to match Oblivion, but he was running out of energy. Oblivion punched his left arm, causing Karel to drop it. He grimaced, but it wasn't over. Oblivion wasn't done. He swung left and right. Karel tried to block the hit, but when an upwards strike to his right hit with too much force, Karel's lightsaber went in the air too far away from him, then Oblivion swung upwards across his chest.

* * *

Karel felt the warmth of his own blood on his chest. His eyes widened. He fell to his knees. The blade of his lightsaber retracted inwards. The warmth of his blood didn't last long.

His thoughts went to Bora. His wife, and the soon to be daughter. He saw her smiling face in his mind as head hung low. Every moment together they shared flashed in his minds. Their first kiss, when they met, their wedding. And one more moment.

Karel felt the effect of Oblivion on the body. He felt his cells die around the wound. He knew that the cells would soon reach his heart, and he would die.

He saw his master in his head. Jade and him going on their missions across the galaxy before the war.

He saw a flash of a woman he didn't recognize but felt a connection to. Something about this woman seemed to be familiar. A Woman with Blonde hair, and the same blue eyes as his.

He felt the gauntlet on his arm fall off his arm and hit the ground next to him with a thud. His breathing was getting harder now.

Oblivion spun around and sheathed his sword. He started walking to Ruby.

Karel's mind flashed back to the day Bora convinced him to inject the nanobots in him. Karel smiled to himself. He wasn't going to die. He knew what was happening inside him.

The Nanobots were saving him! They all quickly gathered to the site of the injury and absorbed the effect of Oblivion. They were fighting a war inside of him to keep him alive. Karel gripped his lightsaber and got up. He started running to Oblivion. He turned on his lightsaber at the last second.

* * *

Oblivion let out a noise and looked down to see a blue lightsaber sticking out of his chest. Ruby looked up and saw what Karel did. She got out her lightsaber and matched the same motion, with her red lightsaber reaching through Oblivion. They took out their lightsabers at the same time. The Darkness around them went down. Oblivion started to fade away. He turned to Karel.

"How did you…?" He was quite for a second. "No, I see now. Good job." Oblivion placed his hand on Karel's head.

Karel started to glow blue. He had received an aura. He screamed in pain as it happened. He learned Oblivion's story, and his semblance. Oblivion finished fading away, leaving the sword Oblivion on the ground.

Karel fell in Ruby's arms. His eyesight flickered between the dirt and blackness. He was losing blood.

"Blood… Loss." Karel fainted.

"Ruby! What happened?" Sun asked, untied now.

"We need to get him to the medics" Ruby said.

"Don't worry, I've got him." Sun helped Ruby carry Karel back, using his tail to grab the gauntlet.

* * *

 **Month 4 Day 24**

Karel woke up in the hospital. Bora was standing next to him. When he woke up, he started to move, but then Bora looked at him. She hugged him, pinning him to the bed.

"How many days?"

"Three." She said

"What about Weiss?"

"She's looking a lot better than you." Bora said. Bora moved a curtain and saw Weiss sitting up in her bed.

"So, we did it." Karel said. He laid his head back down then his mind flashed to Sun and Ruby. "What happened to Ruby and Sun? Where are they?" Karel asked

"They're not here. They're at a funeral." Bora said

Karel's eyes widened. Before the words could leave his mouth, Bora shook her head. "Not everyone made it." Bora said

"Who was it?" Karel asked.

* * *

A few hours later Sun visited him in the hospital. He looked terrible. Blake came in with him.

Karel looked down at his hands. It was his fault.

"So, you already know." Sun said as he sunk into a chair.

"I'm so sorry about Sage." Karel said

"I know." Sun said. Karel knew Sun didn't want to see him. "I… I don't hate you, but…"

"You don't want to see me for a while, I understand." Karel said

"No, it's not that, it's just…" Sun sighed. "This is so damn hard." Sun said, while Blake put her hand on his back.

"You don't need to force yourself…" Sun cut him off

"I need to be a leader for the others."

Sun and Blake stayed a bit later, but they left as well.

"Blue… are you felling different?" Weiss asked.

"I'm feeling like an ant right now, what about you?" Karel said.

"You didn't kill Sage. Silence did." Weiss said. Weiss lifter her hand to show Karel the change. "And I killed her. There's nothing more for you to do. And that's not what I meant. The black circle turned to white. Karel watched. Weiss flicked towards Karel, and his skin showed blue. Karel looked at it.

"I've seen everything now." Karel placed his head on the pillow. He closed his eyes

* * *

 **Month 6 Day 04**

Karel and Weiss got out of the hospital. The five new swordsmen announced themselves to great acceptance by the public in the alliance. Yatsuhashi showed the might of the swordsmen in a battle his team participated in and won. Though the War was still slow as ever. The imperials still ruled the seas. Their navy was too large for the Alliance. The swordsmen were absorbed into the 122nd legion, though it was directed by Master Roni.

Bora had gone into labor early in the morning. She was rushed to a hospital along side Karel. Karel was watching Bora outside the delivery room, trying to help her in any way that he could, which included using the force to try to ease her pain. He gripped onto her hand as she squeezed.

Rouge, Roni, Winter, and Weiss were outside of the delivery room, behind a pane of glass. Separated by all the others they brought with them to the hospital, waiting in a few places

Karel had to admit, his wife had a strong grip. He clenched his teeth as she squeezed. Soon, with one last contraction, they heard the crying of a newborn. Karel cut the umbilical cord linking his daughter to her mother. The newborn baby was wrapped in a blanket and given to Bora to hold.

Karel wrote her name down on the birth certificate. Jade Allusis Lone.

Jade had many qualities of her mother, with the hair color, and her green eyes, but Karel's skin tone. Jade soon fell asleep in her mother's arms, listening to Bora's heartbeat.

"Hey, Karel" Bora said gently. Karel was ready to get anything she needed

"Happy Birthday." Bora said with a smile on her face. Karel forgot what today was. He looked at his family and smiled.

Jade and Karel smiled. Weiss and Winter entered the room.

Roni was about to enter when one of the troops from the war room came through to find her. He whispered something in her ear and left. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. Karel noticed and got ready for the news. Roni and Rouge entered the room.

"Karel, we need to talk, now."

"Please say it here." Karel said

"This is bad news." Roni said

"We can take it, right Bora?"

Bora shook her head, but it was obvious that she was extremely tired.

"Pare was destroyed by a fleet of star destroyers. The Empire just invaded Remnant."

 _ **Author's Notes:**_ **You all know the story by now, computer problems, work, and other things getting in the way.**

 **I've been waiting a long time to get to this point. I've got Jade introduced, and the final faction in the war. Next chapter will be he final for Pare. You'll see what happened next time to that city.**

 **And maybe we'll see two certain Sith Lords.**

 **May the Force be With You**

 **-DragonZlayerx12**


	31. Chapter 30: Battle of Pare End

**Chapter 30**

 **Date: Classified; Location: Imperial Palace, Imperial City, Coruscant**

 **After almost five years, the Empire is creating a force to go again past the known galaxy. Darth Vader went to the Emperor to report.**

Darth Vader walked down the familiar Path to get to his master's office. The ruins of the Jedi order, destroyed by Vader's hands now stood as a beacon to the galaxy, and a final mockery of the Jedi. The dead children's bodies long since decomposed, lightsabers destroyed, and most of the ancient relics of the Jedi either Destroyed or left in under Palpatine's strict supervision. Vader heard the breathing of his metallic suit bounce off the walls of the hallway. Vader kept walking forward, barely noticing the lesser beings who called themselves imperials. Vader had a burning hatred of these scum. Cowards, but he had little time for them. They avoided him at all costs.

Vader entered the room where Palpatine was in. Palpatine looked out the window of his office, and he turned around. The coldness of his being radiated.

"Lord Vader, what news have you brought me on the inquisitorium?" Palpatine's voice cracked like the lightning he so loved. Vader had the sneaking suspicion that he already knew what Vader was going to report.

"The first is still in need of training. I doubt they would be able to take on a Jedi master yet. The second is growing smaller. I would suggest giving them one final chance to see if they are still able to fulfill their duties." Vader said. Palpatine placed his hand up.

"We both thought of that, so I sent the last of them on a mission. If they fail, they will die."

"As I was going to suggest, and lastly, the third is the best of the three."

"So, they will go." Palpatine pressed a few keys on data pad, and the inquisitors had their names added.

"My master, I still have… reservations about them. They are talented, but they are dangerously selfish." Vader understood the irony.

"And that is the way of the Sith. They are going. That is Final." Palpatine started to turn around but stopped half way.

"Also, I have decided to send the Allusis on this mission." Palpatine flicked his eyes at Vader. "You should know why I am sending them." Palpatine silently shaming his apprentice for his past failure. Vader knew exactly what that was about. "Now we found another Jedi knight."

Vader soon left the office. He had another mission to fulfill for his master.

* * *

 **Location: Shipping Yards**

A woman stood, waiting for someone. She was once a representative for Alderaan until she left that life. She wore extravagant looking clothes, only to keep up appearances. Her blonde hair and her bright blue eyes were noticeable. She wore a family heirloom around her neck. She felt like she had an invisible pair of eyes on her, but she shook it off. She also had a few bags behind her. She had a Holo of her late husband in her hand.

Down at the docking station, the woman, around fifty, walked to the station. Waiting for her son to arrive. She didn't see an imperial officer coming towards her.

"Mom." She heard. She turned around and saw her eldest daughter. An officer in the imperial army, and one of the many lieutenants aboard this mission. "You're coming too?" She asked. She looked like her father, having his hair and his tanned skin tone.

"The emperor himself asked for all of us to go. And we can't refuse." She said

"We?" She asked. A pilot and two stormtroopers, and another following close behind his mother.

"We're all here." Gwen Allusis, the matron of the group said with a smile on her face.

"Not all of us mom." The pilot Allusis said. "Dad's not here."

The Patriarch of the family died during the clone wars

"Junior lieutenant Allusis, you are requested at the bridge of the Victory, Lady Allusis, I'm sure you understand that your children need to get to their positions. We'll be launching soon." One of the imperial captains said. All the children left, except for the youngest.

"Be careful Lance. You should keep me in eyesight until we land on this new planet." She said

* * *

 **Location: Outer Rim, Unknown system**

The trip from the inner core to the outer rim was long, but the fleet, with two civilian ships coming along to create a colony for the empire.

Gwen read about this mythical planet. There was almost nothing about it, and most of what does exist is classified. All she was able to find out is the name of the world. Remnant. She didn't know what the significance of the name is, or if there is any. She closed her data pad. Lance came up to her with two bowls of soup.

"Did you find anything about where we're going?" Lance asked. He took out a spice from his pocket and put some in his soup.

"No. Nothing at all. What's so secret about this place?" Gwen thought about it. She would normally be able to come up with an answer to something like this, but not about this. She needed more information but was coming up short everywhere. She wanted to throw her hands in the air.

Lance finished his meal, then sat back.

"Mom, why have you hidden a brother from me?" Lance said calmly.

Gwen was about cough up her soup.

"What do you mean?" She asked

"Mom, I know I have another brother, I just don't know why I never met him."

"He's… probably dead." Gwen said

"Why?" Lance asked

"He was taken by the Jedi." Gwen said. "His name was Karel."

Lance showed no emotion.

"So, he was a traitor?"

"It wasn't his fault. Even I was tricked into believing the myth of the Jedi. I just wished I understood what they believed in." Gwen said, wondering if she truly believed her own words. She didn't know.

* * *

A few days later, the fleet left the outer rim, and traveled the short distance, or relatively short, releasing more Satellites all along the way.

The number of Satellites that marked the way was in the thousands, and this was just the newest load to be brought. The ships kept moving along. The probe droids were sent out ahead of them to search for other hospitable planets, though that would be for another day. The Admiral of the Victory met with the grand inquisitor. She was once a Jedi knight. She was looking at a Holo of the planet they were heading for.

"The emperor gave us everything we need to take this planet. But that is your mission. My mission is to fight the Jedi located here. Is that understood Admiral?" The grand inquisitor said.

"I understand, but we must work together." He said

"That is why I came to this meeting. Trust me, I have intentions of being an ally. I just wanted to inform you what the stance of the inquisitorium is." She said.

"We'll be there in two weeks. We just finished fueling up and getting supplies." He said.

"I could tell. Now, do we have a report from the planet?" She asked

"We do have a few. It seems like the planet is currently at war. We found a spot that seems to be a spot to make our colony." He said.

"Really? That's surprising. Where is it?"

"Our probes haven't created a name for it yet." The admiral said.

The grand inquisitor laughed to herself.

"That's your greatest concern? We'll just keep the name of the place. It looks like a city. How many life forms are on the planet?" She asked

"By our estimates, three point seven billion."

"So, it's populated, I guess when they can't leave the planet, they have to make do there. From the records of the last expedition they have two different species, humans, and near humans. They have a natural predator that they call Grimm, which seems to be a large part to our defeat last time. We can't underestimate our enemy again."

"We fear they have reverse engineered our technology, so we have little advantage." The Admiral said

"Have the probes found any mineral rich worlds yet?"

"We found a few. We also found another world in the near systems that can sustain life. There were no humans or nonhumans found on that planet, thought that seems due to a long dead disease."

"Send that information back to the empire. If we succeed here, our empire will grow larger than we could ever have thought."

The empire continued forward.

* * *

 **Location: Above Remnant**

 **Date: Year 3 Month 6 Day 03**

It was almost time for the invasion to begin. The plan would be simple. An orbital bombardment of the enemy camps outside the city, then dropping troops on the ground, killing or capturing any natives. The colony ships, and an additional star destroyer would stay in orbit until the swift victory. The admiral sent out probe droids to the planet the day before. The natives were more advanced than they thought.

"Sir, the attackers have old republic era ships." One of the officers called out

"What of the defenders?"

"It seems like they have combined our technology with native technologies."

"Then we will have to launch fighters after the bombardment. Understood." The admiral called for a meeting of all the other admirals of the ships. They shared information.

"Then we have decided. Our original plan will still stand. We will fire two ion blasts, destabilizing the droids, and hopefully a few of the ships in the area. Then we launch the rest of the plan as before. We must take this city with as few casualties as possible. Tomorrow we will take the first step in this galaxy and expand our empire."

Gwen said a silent prayer to no God in particular.

* * *

 **Month 6 Day 04**

Yin Yellowfield held his position in the edge of the city the Alliance still held. He fired at the enemy imperials three dropped down. He got behind cover as he was shot at.

"Where's the rest of my squad?" He said to himself. He sent out another signal. Only three signals came back. "They're dead. Just great." Yin went to the stairs and moved up. A rocket exploded where he was. He gave out a sigh of relief. The battle started up again after both sides got resupplied.

"But nothing's going to change in Pare" He said to himself.

The ground shook. Yin looked out of the window and saw all the droids on the ground collapsing. He also saw some of the fighters start crashing. He had no idea what was happening.

Then he saw it. A large blast of blue came down to the ground again, taking out the last of the droids. Most of the snub fighters were crashing around them. Alliance and imperial. What was happening?

Yin took out his scroll. He was able to send a message to the Alliance HQ. Then the ground started shaking again. He looked up and saw the destruction of the Alliance HQ in Pare. The imperials also lost their HQ.

"This can't be the black fang." Yin said to himself.

Yin saw the end of the bombardment a few minutes later. The Alliance must have lost almost everything at this point. All that was left were the live troops. Yin watched as multiple dropships came out of the sky, then he watched as multiple star destroyers and Ties of all kinds came out. He figured out his message.

He took a picture, and wrote, "Confirmation of imperials." He sent the message out. It was sent right before the comm tower was destroyed. Team BNGD moved to where Yin was.

"What's happening?" Yin asked. Soon, Tie bombers came down, and destroyed many of the buildings. Stormtroopers arrived. Patrick and his team got ready for a fight. Yin stayed behind. The bombs stopped, thankfully, but he knew it was far from over. When team BNGD got to the entrance of the building, they were surrounded by stormtroopers.

* * *

Dylan fired his weapon, but the rocket stayed in the air. They heard the familiar noise of a lightsaber turning on.

An inquisitor came walking towards the hunters.

"Do you believe in a god?" He asked, a mask covering his face.

"Not really." Dylan said. "Guys, get away from here." Dylan said. Before the stormtroopers could stop them, the members of team BNGD were gone. The inquisitor still held the rocket in the air.

"Well, I will be your God, and God says you deserve death." The inquisitor held up his second hand, holding Dylan still. He moved his hand forward, making Dylan take the hit of his own rocket. He was still alive and took no damage because of his semblance. The inquisitor walked over to him, grabbing Dylan's face.

"What is the name of this city?"

"Pare." Dylan said.

"Spell it." The inquisitor cut off Dylan's arm. Dylan clenched his teeth

"P-A-R-E" Dylan said. The inquisitor walked away, then slammed Dylan against the nearest wall. Dylan heard the clicks of all his explosives he had on him. His eyes widened. It would be able to take out the whole building. Not even his semblance could save him now. The explosives went off. Dylan was alive for that, but when the building came down on him, he was crushed to death.

* * *

Yin felt the building start to collapse. He was able to jump out, but he dropped his gun. When he jumped out, he got hit by a tie fighter. Yin's semblance took most of the damage, but he was now falling to the ground. Yin saw a flash. He was caught from the falling building and landed on another. His savior was a grey Jedi. Though she was greatly injured. Yin could tell her arm was broken.

"Stay here." She said. She turned and saw an inquisitor. She took out her lightsaber as the inquisitor took out her lightsaber. It was regular lightsaber. The inquisitor turned on her lightsaber, and the red blade shot out.

"Are you a Jedi?" She asked.

"Are you a Sith?" the Grey Jedi asked.

Yin started to crawl, when he felt a sharp pain in his back. One of his vertebrae was crushed. The inquisitor made three quick sticks and disarmed the grey Jedi.

"You're weak." The inquisitor made a quick flick, killing the grey Jedi. Yin watched as the inquisitor came over to him. She placed her boot on his neck. Yin found he couldn't move his arms. He could do nothing. He committed one last act of defiance when he spat on the inquisitor. She stood over him as she choked the life out of him. Yin was dead.

* * *

Ethan got separated from the rest of his team. He knew Dylan was dead. Now he was trying to outrun a tie intercept that was coming down right at him. He couldn't outrun it. So, he decided to outmaneuver it. He made a turn at the right time, as a missile came down right behind him. He went into a building with the Mistral imperials. They pointed their guns at him. He couldn't take them all on. He cracked his knuckles, and clones appeared. Ethan left the building felling minor pains in his stomach and chest area. A bomber hit that building and it collapsed. Ethan began running again. This time running into a squad a stormtroopers, blasters pointed at him.

"This just isn't my day." He fired his shotgun, killing one of the troops, and taking a few hits himself, but he jumped over them, and continued running. He quickly hid in a building and looked at his aura reserves. He was dangerously low. Anything major, and he would take real damage. As soon as he left the building, a missile hit the ground besides him. Ethan was dazed. He shook his head and knew his aura was depleted. When he looked up, multiple guns were trained on him. They fired stun rounds and knocked him out. Ethan was taken to a shuttle.

Tyler Nickelson was exhausted, with no ammo, a broken weapon, no allies, and surrounded by imperials. He used his semblance to see how bad the situation was around him. He saw dozens of people being killed. His hiding place was surrounded. He had nothing he could do.

"I surrender." Tyler said. He raised his hands. Two stormtroopers came and cuffed him. Tyler was stunned and taken aboard the transport as Ethan.

Patrick Browne was trying to get out of the city, though there was nowhere safe to go. His weapons were mostly destroyed. All he had left now his rifle. He got out of the city limits and got to the point where he told the others to meet up. ALIS spoke up.

"I have done a scan of the city. Dylan is gone, but the others are still alive."

Patrick didn't know how to feel. "Where are they?"

"I can't tell, but it seems like they were taken prisoners sir."

* * *

Patrick wanted to go back out and fight, but that would only lead to his death. He needed to get back to Vale.

Patrick was in the mine outside the city where he started to sleep when he heard a noise. Two grey Jedi found him.

"Careful, we need to get out of here." One of them said

"What about the imperials?" The other asked.

"We have to be really careful." Auron said

"Fine, but we're taking him with us." Teal said.

They left the mine, and were able to sneak past the imperials, as they were too busy fixing the city up. They started their long trek back to Vale.

Shortly after the end of the battle, and securing the city, the imperials got rid of the bodies in the most efficient way they could. A mass grave. They put the alliance members and imperials in ships and transported them far away from the city and blasted two giant holes in the ground. The ships dropped the bodies and buried them in the rubble of the fallen building. By nightfall, they had complete control of the city.

Gwen and her children met up once again. This time, on the soil of a new planet. Their new home. The civilian ships and the final star destroyer landed. Those they captured, and the droids they disabled were brought together to rebuild the city. They would start soon.

The City of Pare was now under imperial rule, and the long battle was finally over. Though the winner was never anticipated.

* * *

Karel was in the hospital with his wife and newborn daughter when he heard the news. Bora held onto her child tightly. Karel clenched his fist. He wanted to launch an attack, but he knew that his legion wasn't enough. Maybe the entire alliance wasn't enough. Roni quickly left the hospital and went to the war room. She saw everyone running around franticly. The numbers were coming in of the dead. Entire legions were just wiped out. Ironwood was trying to get everything back in order.

Roni watched as all the names of the confirmed killed scrolled by her on a screen. She went to another screen where the missing and were. Name after name appeared. Commander Soleil came into the war room. He was set to return to Pare the next day. He rushed over with his daughter to the war room when he heard the news. Ciel, who was now a captain in the army, was let in as well.

"How many made it?" He asked.

"We have only those who were able to get out of the city. Only those on the edge of the city. Right now, we have two hundred thirty-two that escaped in time." Ironwood said

Soleil had nothing to say.

"Less than even ten percent"

* * *

Salem could only watch as the biggest surprise in the war happened. Even she was caught off guard. None of her plans involved this. She had to admit it, she was completely taken aback. She wanted to clap for the imperials.

All her inner circle members watched in awe of the attack.

"What are we going to do?" Hazel asked.

Salem said nothing. She just watched as the empire claimed the land as there's. She wouldn't even be able to send out any of her Grimm to stop them. The Dragon would be killed, and she only had the one.

"We have the army." Cinder said

Salem stood up.

"We are going to do nothing." She looked around at the others at the table.

"But can't we wipe them out?"

"Not yet. We don't have enough information. Besides, if we charge in blind, we will lose far more than we will gain. For now, we sit back and wait. Wait for the moment to strike."

Salem now had another enemy in her war. She just needed to keep them apart.

* * *

 **Month 6 Day 05**

Emperor Sym went to his council. There he wrote his address to the world. His people were gathered today. All waited for his words. Vox was with him when he made his speech to a large crowd.

Across the empire, people watched as Sym got to the podium.

"Today will go down in history as a date in infamy. We were surprised and shocked when out of nowhere that enemy from five years ago arrived and brutally attacked our forces at Pare. Those who they didn't kill, they have captured, or enslaved. They have leveled many of the buildings and are using those they captured to rebuild that which they destroyed. They arrived here for an unknown reason, which we cannot allow them to succeed in their mission. We must stand strong together and defeat this new evil.."

* * *

Karel turned off the TV in his wife's room. He didn't want to see his face. Karel didn't hate him, but he knew that this war was draining both sides. Both sides even sent out probes to other planets, and sent droids to mine. The materials helped to feed the war. It was strange to him.

"This has just gotten a lot more complicated. I sense that we're going to be on the defensive for a while." Karel said, while flicking through the mail they have gotten. A lot of junk.

"Like we have been." Bora said. She held onto Jade, who was sleeping. Bora seemed ready to leave this place. She knew that in the spring she would be back on the battlefield.

"Yeah, you're right. How are you feeling?" Karel asked. Karel looked at a letter that seemed different. He put it to the side.

"Tired." She said. Karel held out his hands and took his daughter in his hands. He held her in his arms and moved a finger to her open hand. He waited for one of the tests to come back. All the others were able to be done here, but this final test can only be done by a Jedi. Gael knocked at the door. Karel opened it.

Gael came in and bowed. Karel bowed his head.

"We've come back with the blood test. Your daughter has a high concentration of midi-chlorians. She may be force sensitive." Gael walked over to Jade.

"Of course, that isn't certain." Gael got up. "Grandmaster Ray sent out a message to all Jedi to be on alert. We did gain information that there are ten of the inquisitors. All seem to be more powerful than those from Five years ago."

"So she sent out a general warning?" Karel asked

"Yes, and for those few with younger padawans, such as yourself, she has given another warning. Do not let your padawan fight the inquisitor without you. They will be the main targets we assume." Gael said. Xar flashed in Karel's mind. Then Rouge.

"I see. What news about the grey Jedi?"

"The Grey Jedi have made a proposal to Grandmaster Ray. They would send one grey Jedi with any Jedi who has a young padawan. They ask for the Vacuo temple as compensation. Grandmaster Ray has agreed to that."

"Thank you."

* * *

Gwen gathered her children together. They started the rebuilding process of the city, but most of the homes were safe. Gwen was one of those who were invited as a member of the council in Pare. She may become one of thirty-five members of the army and the civilians who would come together to create this council in place of the emperor's orders. She didn't know if she was going to take the position.

Gwen sat at the table of one of the homes, which was given to her family until they could fix up more buildings. Everyone was in civilian clothing. Gwen looked at her sons and daughters. Erik, Lance, Adi, Alex, and Jira. Two sons and three daughters.

"We have made it this far into a new galaxy. We will be the link to the empire. This is a great day." Gwen raised a cup, and her children did the same.

"To our new home." Jira lead. She was not the lieutenant she is when on duty. She let her dark hair down. The dark hair which she inherited from her father.

All the Allusis children were happy. They started to talk about what they planned on doing. Gwen stared out into the night sky. She felt like she would soon meet someone here that will change her life. But soon she shook off that feeling she had. Who could possibly sway her away from the empire?

* * *

Roni entered the war room. They finished counting the dead. The invaders sent the numbers of dead they buried as either an act of kindness or of mockery, most likely both. Roni was met by Ironwood.

"Are you ready?" He asked. Goodwitch was standing by.

"Yes. Is the council ready?" Roni asked

"Yes."

One of the troops moved forward and started saying what they feared.

"The total death count of the war is 4,375,550 dead approximately. In the battle of Pare, we lost Legion 97, Legion 103, Legion 104, Legion 114, Legion 118…"

 _ **Author's Notes:**_ **This was a shorter chapter, but this is a very important chapter. The empire has arrived, and threw a wrench into things.**

 **We won't see anymore of the battle of Pare. It's finally over. But that doesn't mean that it will go forgotten. It's the seat of the Empire on remnant.**

 **Happy Halloween**

 **May the Force Be With You**

 **-DragonZlayerz12**


	32. Chapter 31: Family Reunion

**Chapter 31**

 **Year 3 Month 9 Day 05**

 **A short time after the empire invaded Remnant, they captured a large part of the land. The empire had been able to push back the defenders. The Pare empire pushed the Mistral empire and the Alliance back to their borders.**

The imperials were fighting the Alliance. Erik Allusis flew in his tie interceptor, flying past an Atlesian fighter, taking it down. The ship blew up as he flew past the destruction. The battle was stalling. Erik lost track for a moment, but that was enough. His left wing was shot off. Erik started crashing towards the ground, spinning. Erik did everything in his power to save the ship. He pulled back a lever and crashed into the ground. He felt everything go black, and fainted.

Karel was fighting the empire, trying to keep what ground they had. The area to the mountain borders was too close for anyone's comfort. The Mistral empire at least had a large amount of buffer space between them and Vale. Pare was that buffer. Now that the empire had that space, the Alliance had to fight harder. Vacuo and Vale were in the crosshairs.

Rouge and Bora were back on the field. Jade was being watched by Ren and Nora, who recently got married. The Grey Jedi Auron joined them. Karel watched the tie interceptor crash. They were winning. Karel took out Oblivion and raised his hand. It was a cloud. The sky turned dark and a crash of thunder caused the fighters to land quickly.

"Is it going to rain?" Auron asked.

"I don't think so." Karel said. He rushed forward and slashed into an imperial. Soon he heard the order of retreat. They had won the day.

"Karel, I'm going to send a team to scavenge that ship that crashed." Bora said to him.

"Alright." Karel said. He went to contact the HQ and inform them of the victory. They would enjoy hearing that.

* * *

Bora got squad 7 to help her. They moved up towards the crash site. When they saw the tie was still intact, she made them move carefully. They surrounded the ship and broke into it. Violette felt for a pulse and found one. She, and two others got the pilot out of the downed Tie. Bora ordered them to take the prisoner to a tent that was set up nearby.

They put him on a chair and tied him down.

Erik opened his eyes. He could tell that he wasn't in his tie anymore. He tried to move his arms but felt them tied somewhere. His head shot up. He had four people pointing guns at him. He was captured.

"You've got to be kidding me." Erik said. He got ready for whatever came next. The only one who didn't have a gun to him went up to him and took off his helmet. Her eyes widened at the sight of his face.

"Yeah, I'm human! What of it?" Erik said.

"That's not the problem here." Bora said. "What's you're last name?" Bora asked

"Allusis, Why?" Erik said

"Then I may be able to tell you what you are to me." Bora said. She turned around and made a call "Karel, we're going to need you to come down here right away."

Erik waited for the reactions of his captures. It was all he could do. He wanted to know what this woman was talking about.

"What am I to you?" Erik asked.

He heard a voice call out. "This better be…" Karel entered the tent. "…important"

"It seems I'm your sister in law" Bora said.

* * *

Erik and Karel looked at each other. Karel spoke first.

"I think you're my twin brother." Karel said. Erik didn't know what to say

"I don't have a twin." Erik said.

"So, I was kept a secret. I get it. I'm a Jedi. I am Jedi knight Karel Allusis. I was taken to the Jedi temple at a young age from my mother and father. They were from Alderaan."

Erik couldn't deny the resemblance. Could he have gone to a new planet to discover a long-lost brother he didn't know about.

"Do you know the chance of this being true?" Erik said

"But you can't deny it. My master told me the name of my mother once, after the fall of the order. Is her name Gwen, by any chance?" Karel asked. Erik's eyes widened.

"This is impossible." Erik said.

"Give me your hand." Karel said. Bora untied one of Erik's hands and moved it to Karel. Karel pricked his finger to take a blood sample. Karel then pricked his own finger and ran a blood test. Karel showed the results to Erik.

"There you go. I've just proven to you that we're brothers." Karel said, "I guess I should know my brother's name."

"Erik." He said shocked. His mother had kept his twin brother a secret.

Karel placed his hand out to Erik.

"What will happen to me?"

"Normally, you would be sent to a POW camp until we would trade for your release, but you're a unique case. So, I will guard you personally until we decide what happens."

Erik grabbed Karel's hand.

"I accept." Erik said.

* * *

Karel and Bora took Erik onto their ship where they called Master Roni. Rouge and Auron were both on his ship.

"I see. This is most unusual. Bring him back to the Temple. We will discuss what to do then." Roni ended the call.

"You're going to take me to the Jedi?" Erik asked.

"Yes, but while we're flying back, I've got a few questions for you." Karel said.

"I probably can't answer many." Erik said.

"Do we have any other family members on this planet that I don't know about?" Karel said

"Our mother, and our siblings came with us. The Emperor himself put us all together. I thought that it was weird." Erik said.

"What about our father?" Karel asked

"He died. It was at the end of the clone wars when the Separatists killed him." Erik said.

"I see. So I won't get to meet him. I hoped one of these days… never mind. That's not important. Do you think we can get our family out of Pare?" Karel said

Erik's eyes widened

"Betray the empire? How could you even suggest it?"

Karel chuckled.

"Do you know what a youngling is?" Karel asked

"No, should I?"

"They're children wanting to become Jedi. Do you know what the empire did to them? Do you know what the empire did to the Jedi?"

"The Jedi were evil" Erik said

"That's not the smartest thing to say in a ship with mostly Jedi." Bora said. "But they won't hurt you. It's not in their nature." Erik looked at Bora

"I've noticed you're not a Jedi. Are a native of this planet?" Erik asked.

"No. I'm a Mandalorian. And the one flying the ship, so please stop distracting me." Bora got ready to land. When they landed, the Jedi Council was waiting for them.

Karel grabbed Erik's shoulder.

"Come on, no need to delay the inevitable."

* * *

Erik stepped off the ship and looked at the masters.

"Commander Allusis, we thank you for telling us about this." Grandmaster Ray said.

"Commander?" Erik asked.

"I'm the commander of the 122nd legion. Come on."

Erik was taken to the temple where Karel and Bora sat in a room with him.

"They want us to ask you a few questions, but I'll let you ask a few." Bora said.

"What's going to happen to me?"

"You'll come stay with us for the night. Give you time to adjust to Vale. We do have enough space for you, so don't worry." Karel said.

"What if I say no?"

"Don't get this wrong, you don't have a choice. We're going to watch you very carefully." Bora said. "In fact, we're going to have droids guarding your room, and the house tonight. We'll know if you try to leave."

"A comfy prison." Erik said.

"Yes. Exactly. Now we have a few questions. How many star destroyers arrived in Pare?" Karel asked.

"Ten, with two civilian ships. The empire wants to expand into this galaxy. It was meant to be the first colony world for the empire." Erik said.

"Then why send the inquisitors?" Karel asked, pacing back and forth.

"We were never told." Erik said.

"And that never brought up any alarms?" Bora asked

Erik shook his head. Karel smiled.

"Imperial culture, right?"

"That's not my place to…" Erik started. Karel waved his hand. Erik stopped talking.

"That's not something we need to discuss now. We have a plan. You will contact our mother, and you will arrange for her, and the rest of our family to meet us. I'll tell you more later. For now, we must get back to the house. Come on, you're probably hungry."

* * *

Karel and Bora brought Erik to their home. It was a big building. Karel invited Erik into his house.

"Welcome to our home." Karel said.

Bora went to their room while Karel put his sword away. Erik felt the handcuffs come off. They fell to the floor.

"You trust me?" Erik said.

"Doesn't matter if I do or don't. I'm a Jedi knight, so if you do try to attack me, or do anything, I can easily take you down. Karel took Erik to one of the guest rooms. Erik entered and looked at the room. It was nice, he had to admit.

"How many people are in our family?"

"Six others."

"Then they could live here." Karel said. Erik turned to look at him. "I plan on meeting my family. Just like you should. I'll go get you some clothes and then you can meet your niece. Try not to anything that will get in trouble." Karel left the room. Erik sat down at the chair and took everything in. Was he going to join his brother, and try to get his family to join him? He didn't know. He thought about it. Karel opened the door and placed down a pair of clothes.

"Once you're done changing, meet me back in the living room." Karel left. Erik was touched by the kindness. Yesterday, he was sure about what he was going to do, but that all changed. He knew he was going to have to decide what his part to play was soon.

He got changed and left the room. He saw Karel and went to him

"What was it that you wanted to show me?" Erik said.

"Come with me." Karel said.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course."

* * *

Karel got up and Erik followed. They went to Karel and Bora's room.

"Is your wife still in there?" Erik asked.

"No, she's with Ren and Nora. They're a few friends. It's just us, and Jade." Karel said.

"Who's Jade?" Erik asked. Karel opened the door and Erik saw a crib. Karel went up to his daughter and waved Erik over.

Erik stood over his niece and placed his finger towards her. She grabbed his finger and laughed.

"I wonder if she thinks you're me. I've got to admit we do look alike." Karel said with a smile on his face.

"We're twins" Erik said

"I know… I was making a joke."

Erik looked at Jade and took a deep breath.

"I'll do it. I'll help you rescue our family. We need to be together." Erik said

Karel placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"We shall do it together."

Later in the day, during dinner Erik was telling Bora and Karel about the Allusis family.

"Our youngest brother's Lance. He's smart, but also a flirt. He already tried to date three women on this planet. One of them slapped him when she found out Lance was going to take her sister out." Erik laughed.

Karel shook his head.

"I can't wait to meet him. What about our other siblings?"

"Jira's our oldest sibling. She's an officer in the army, but not to high up. She's stuck most days trying to make sure we stay alive. She's able to work with Mom as they make a government until we get reinforcements. Most of that stuff goes over my head, but both can leave without the whole thing collapsing. The last two are Alex and Adi. They both went into the stormtrooper corps. Adi followed Alex. They're both out sisters before you ask."

"What are they like?"

"Adi is completely different when she takes off her helmet. It's so strange. Bubbly when she's Adi, but deadly serious when she's a stormtrooper. Alex is the best shot I know. She honestly should have become a sniper."

"Bet I could beat her." Bora said.

"I won't question a Mandalorian, but don't count her out." Erik said.

They finished the dinner and they went to strategize.

"I have an idea, but we may be caught doing it." Karel said, looking at a hologram of the borders. They decided the place where they would make the 'transfer'.

"What is it?" Bora asked.

"What's a major benefit of having a twin?" Karel asked.

Erik blinked. He looked at Karel, then they turned to Bora.

"You're really doing that?" Bora said, "But you've got a scar on your face while Erik's got nothing" Bora said Karel felt the scar on his lower lip.

"It's not that noticeable." Karel said

"And what about your lightsabers?"

"Erik will hold them until I need them."

"This shouldn't work… but we can make it work."

* * *

 **Month 9 Day 06**

Erik sent out the message.

"Mom, I'm fine, but I got captured. The enemy has made an offer. They want to trade me for a hunter that we captured. Just ask our prisoners who is or isn't a hunter. You'll find one sooner or later. Here are the coordinates of the trade. I was told to tell you to bring the whole family. Sorry for telling them about us." Erik ended the message. Karel nodded his head.

"We're going to bring a few people along. I don't trust the empire to be fair." Karel said

"How many?"

"Quality over quantity. Don't worry. I've got the group ready." Karel said

"The swordsmen?" Bora asked

"Yes." Karel said

"Then who will handle Oblivion?" Bora asked

Karel pointed to Bora. She nodded.

Gwen received the message and got her family together. Lance slammed his hand against a table. "We have to save him!"

"We will. We have to." A prisoner walked towards them with four stormtroopers.

"This one claims to be a hunter, whatever that means. We have the prisoner. Let's go." The head of the four troops said. They boarded a land speeder and arrived at the destination.

Out of the forest, they saw about two dozen people. One of them was wearing a mask. He was riding a horse. Gwen wasn't worried about what was going to happen.

Erik was pushed forward. The hunter was moved forward by a stormtrooper.

When Erik and the hunter got on opposite sides, neither side moved. Erik had his hands untied from Lance.

"Thanks Lance." Erik said.

Erik took off his helmet. Gwen stared at her son. Something seemed off. She grabbed his face. It felt different. Then she noticed a scar that didn't belong.

"Who are you?" Gwen asked.

"I'm your son." Erik said

"You're not Erik." Gwen said.

"Mom?" Adi said.

"No, I'm not Erik." Karel used the force to grab his lightsaber. He turned it on and shoved it in the air.

"I am Jedi knight Karel Allusis."

Everyone took a step back.

"You're our brother?" Lance asked. Karel put away his lightsaber.

"I was brought to the Jedi Order at a young age, but I can confirm that I am your brother."

Gwen looked shocked. She took a step forward.

A shot range out, and the hunter dropped. One of the stormtroopers fired and killed the hunter. The others got ready to fire at the Allusis. Karel jumped over them and used the force to take the blasters away from them. Karel turned on his lightsaber.

"That wasn't very smart" Karel said.

"Are you going to kill us?" One of them asked.

"No. I'm going to take you prisoner." Karel said, waving his hand. Phyrra and Jaune jumped out of the trees. The stormtroopers dropped their blaster. Karel turned his lightsaber off and turned to his family. "And you… how do you want to come to Vale?" Karel asked his family.

"What are you saying?" Alex asked.

"Do you want to come with me?" Karel asked

Gwen looked at her son. She took a step to him, and hugged Karel. She held him close.

"I thought you were dead." She said.

"I'm not." Karel said. He had no idea how to deal with this. He just waited for the answer.

"I think… we're going to come with you." Lance said.

* * *

 **Month 9 Day 18**

Gwen and her family finished everything they needed to do to join the Alliance. The Jedi watched closely at Karel and his family. She was fine with that, her family was once again together, with a few new members. She didn't know what the future was going to hold, but she was willing to do it with her family. Including her daughter in law.

Karel was asleep in his study, with a small stack of papers on his desk.

Gwen went to his study and looked at her missing son sleep. He shot awake. Gwen jumped back.

"Sorry to startle you." Karel said, rubbing his head. "Just had to get some paperwork done." He looked at the paper in his hand. He was looking at requests for his legion.

"You seem stressed."

"More like overworked." Karel said.

"You know, your siblings can help you. They were all in the army… except for Lance." Gwen said, taking a seat.

"Speaking of Lance, have you seen him?"

"He should still be asleep, Why?"

"Tell him that he shouldn't play with my lightsabers." Karel said, holding onto his purple lightsaber.

"He didn't." Gwen said. She got up and went to yell at Lance. Karel smiled as he flipped through the candidates for a high up position for the 122nd legion.

 _ **Author's Notes: I know this isn't much, but it got its job done. I'm glad It's done. Next chapter things will pick back up. Maybe a reappearance of a certain someone. This is shorter than I normally do.**_

 _ **I've been playing SWTOR recently, and I've got to say, I'm enjoying it. I'm so glad it's still around.**_


	33. Chapter 32: Spies

**Chapter 32**

 **Year 3 Month 11 Day 21**

 **The Mistral empire was beset on all sides by enemies. Grimm had returned to Mistral, and they fought the Alliance. Emperor Sym hired an elite assassin to take down enemy leaders.**

Echo watched as the Ninth got ready to go on her new assignment. He wasn't sure that he would see her again.

"Remember, Emperor Sym hired you. If you fail him, it will look bad on all of us." Echo said

"Fourth, you are too careful." Ninth said.

"Ninth, if you fail, you might as well kill yourself." Echo said. Ninth stopped for a second.

"That has never been a requirement before." Ninth said

"You've never been on a mission of this importance." Echo said.

"Trying to help your apprentice?"

Echo was next to her in an instant. He had a needle next to her throat. "Don't get cocky." Echo put the needle away. Ninth felt fear.

Ninth knew her targets. She was off.

* * *

 **Month 11 Day 23**

Ninth's first target was a simple one. A Captain who was going to be meeting with a higher up later. She had to get him right after the meeting. She stalked her target all the way to Atlas. He was nothing special. It would be a simple kill for her. She sat in a tree a kilometer away, with the patience of an animal seeking its next meal. The meeting thankfully didn't take long. In half an hour the meeting ended. Ninth decided to start to follow him. He went to a bar after the meeting.

She entered the bar a few minutes after him. He was unmarried, and with the information she had, He had a weakness for the fairer sex. She went close to him, but not next to him. She ordered a drink.

She took everything in around her. A pool table, a dart board, sports betting tables, poker tables, and other types of gambling. She could see why so many people would want to come here to hide and get a drink. The cybernetics flashed at least ten people in this bar with bounties on them. None of them big enough for her to care. She watched her target carefully. Using her charms to get his attention. Soon he walked towards her. Her cybernetic hid itself. He took a seat next to her.

"Hey, can I get you a drink?" He asked. She got him.

She played along with him for the rest of the time that he was at the bar. A few hours later, he was very drunk. She stole the information a while ago. Now she just had to kill him. They went to his home. He laid down on his bed and started to disrobe. Ninth pulled out her pistol and shot him in the heart. She watched his dead body for a moment and fired a second round. She started pouring as much gas as the house had around. After the house was covered, she found a cigar.

She heard the target gasping for life. She lit the cigar, took a puff, and threw it on the ground. She left the house and watched as the house caught on fire. Her target list came up. She marked off the first one and moved onto the second one. This time, she was authorized to use bullets that had the poison dust inside of them.

* * *

 **Month 11 Day 28**

She was going to menagerie this time, to hopefully slow down the alliance in their project there. She was safely able to get to Menagerie, using a lot of her favors. Even though the Alliance was easier to move across, it was hard still. When she landed, she had to do a few of her best tricks to get out of a sticky situation with her ID. She was just barely able to get past the guards, but she was able.

Her target would be hard to get to. She was one of the founders of the red fang. In fact, she was the current leader of it. Ninth knew this would be difficult, but not the most difficult one on her list.

She had gotten used to these harder missions. But the kill was the hard part about this one. With the info gathered from her previous kill, she had everything she needed to track her prey. The information she stole had the schedules for several people, including all her targets.

Sienna Khan waited patiently for the meeting to start, but even after nearly an hour of waiting, she was about to walk out. Thankfully the Belladonnas finally arrived. She sat back down in her seat, until she noticed that there were quite a few more people coming into the room.

"What is this?" She asked.

"We've got word that the empire has hired an assassin to kill you, so we brought in a few allies to guard us." Ghira said. Team RWBY and Team CFVY, alongside Vuren entered the room.

"Jedi, hunters… Is this Salem?"

"She may have a tie to this. We know one assassin's coming, but there may be more sent by her." Ghira said, grabbing a glass.

"Salem has been stopping our efforts to make the desert green. We're having heavy resistance at the Nixen valley. Especially at the base of the Vajon river. It seems so strange. Why that place out of all places on Remnant?"

"She's probably hiding something there." Vuren said

"What would she hide there?" Sienna asked

"No idea, but it has to be import…"

* * *

Vuren pulled out her lightsaber and intercepted a bullet. It imbedded itself into a wooden pillar. It was going straight for Sienna. Ruby and Yang pulled out their lightsabers. Vuren felt something was about to happen. The lightbulbs in the room all burst. Yang used the force to send the glass to a place where it would be harmless. A bullet was fired in the dark.

Velvet jumped up to where the bullet was fired from. She kicked the assassin into the wall. Since she was a Faunus, she was able to see in the dark.

"It's her!" She yelled. The assassin threw a knife, cutting Velvet's cheek.

Vuren moved towards Sienna Khan. She was hit by the bullet, and she was bleeding.

Vuren put one of her lightsabers away and grabbed onto Khan. She started to move Khan away to a safe room when she heard death cries around her. She saw, through the force, black fang fighting the red fang. She saw one of them wielding a lightsaber. Another had a sword. He took down four red fang guards. Vuren used the force to open the door to another room.

Sienna gripped Vuren's arm. Vuren took her into the empty room. She knelt and heard what Sienna said. Sienna passed Vuren her scroll, and a ring. Vuren tried to keep the black fang from getting into the room. Sienna looked at the door as the ancient Sith broke it open. She closed her eyes and let out her final breath.

* * *

Blake took down a Grimm that entered the room when she saw her worst nightmare.

Adam was leading the attack. He looked over at her.

"Blake. I didn't think this day could get much better, getting sent here to destroy the traitorous red fang, or your coward of a father, but now…" He said. Weiss came from behind and tried to get the drop on him, but he spun around, and went to stab Weiss.

Yang sent a force blast and sent Adam to the wall. He got back up. He looked around for Ruby.

"If I remember correctly, there was a red one." Adam said. He heard the activation of a lightsaber from above him. He jumped out of the way. Team RWBY had him surrounded.

"Looks like I need some backup." Adam created a portal next to him. Uriel Ventris came out with a red lightsaber. Yang lowered her guard

"Master?" Yang said. Uriel didn't say anything. He dashed towards her. It was all she could do to block it. Ruby went to go help her sister. Blake and Weiss were all that was left. Weiss snapped, and created the bubble. She also twisted her hand and sent glyphs around this arena. They got ready to fight.

After missing his shot Sixth tried to get away from the compound. He'd slipped away when the Black fang arrived and hadn't run into anyone yet. He got to a good place to rest and waited for his next assignment to appear. He heard footsteps approach, so he got up.

"So, you finally got back here. Too many Jedi to kill Khan, but I can get the next target for sure." Sixth said. One he turned he saw about the worst person to say what he said to. Master Roni was there. She closed her scroll and took out her lightsabers.

"I guess it was a good thing I was running late."

Sixth quickly pulled out a pistol and fired. Roni blocked the shot and reached out her hand. Sixth was frozen in place and she walked close to him. She grabbed his scroll and let him go. He reached into his coat and fired at her one more time.

Roni blocked the attack and threw her second lightsaber into Sixth's chest. She used the force to bring the lightsaber back to her. Sixth falls down dead.

"Send a squad to this location. Then send more troops to the red fang compound. I think they're under attack." Roni hurried to the compound.

* * *

Team CFVY were chasing the assassin. Velvet wanted her dead the most. Yatsuhashi was doing his best to lead her to the Forest by creating the wall. Once they got to the forest multiple giant Grimm appeared. Twin Geists took over several boulders. Fox and Yatsuhashi were cut off from Coco and Velvet.

"Things are still going according to plan." Coco said.

"I know. Now we have to do our part."

Vuren took out her lightsabers and fought the ancient Sith. She didn't have to be careful anymore with Sienna dead. She just hoped she could avoid that same fate. She quickly blocked the attacks, and parried. She couldn't make a hit, but neither was he. But being stuck in this room, with little room, she was at the disadvantage, and she needed to get out of here.

* * *

After the Sith made a mistake in his swing, Vuren used the force to push him back. She rolled underneath him and made it into the hallway. She was running towards the bar that was connected to the compound. A few black fang troops got in her way, but she swatted them away. She saw the Sith following her. He sent a blast of force lightning. She turned around and blocked with her lightsabers. She was pushed back, but then she shoved the power back at the Sith. He got hit by his own lightning, but he wasn't dead yet. She rushed forward and jumped over him. He'd just gotten up when Vuren turned around, slashing through him twice. He fell to the ground and started to fade away. Vuren picked up his lightsaber and hung it to her belt. She saw Ruby and Yang losing against another Sith in the courtyard. She used the force to break the window next to her, and she jumped to join in on the fight. She threw her first lightsaber, but the Sith used the force to stop it and tossed it to the side. Vuren landed and took out the Sith's lightsaber. The red and green blades met in an X blocking a downward strike. Ruby rushed, but the Sith broke the lock to block the attack. He reached out his hand and took Vuren's lightsaber.

Yang punched at Uriel. He took the hits and moved back. He threw Vuren's lightsaber back at her. She got it back and put it back on her belt.

"Yang, I'm not controlling my body. I'm sorry."

Another portal opened. Cinder walked through.

"Don't apologize Love. It's time to leave. We've won."

Yang rushed forward. Cinder took out her black lightsaber and blocked the hit. She used force lightning and hit Yang. She flew back. Uriel and Cinder went back into the portal. Ruby went to her sister and Vuren looked around to see if any more enemies were around. She heard a ship approaching.

* * *

Adam was beating Weiss and Blake, but not by much. He didn't even notice when Salem's dark armor covered him. He only noticed when Weiss and Blake got their armor. He noticed his forces were quickly being beaten back. That didn't matter. All he needed to do was kill his targets. He just needed a distraction.

Weiss made a glyph behind Adam, not giving himself to much time to react. He spun around and slashed the glyph. His sword absorbed the energy. Blake was about to stab him, but he jumped over her. He was about to bring the sword down when Ghira charged at him. He tackled Adam out of the bubble. Adam was holding onto Ghira's arms, trying to stop him from killing him.

"Don't you dare touch my daughter!" He roared.

"She's not my target." The bubble fell. Blake screamed out.

Ghira turned around and saw Adam's sword hanging out of Kali.

"Mom!" Blake yelled.

Kali saw the sword rise off the ground and threw herself in front of it. Weiss tried to stop her, but she wasn't fast enough to stop her. The sword was coming towards Ghira. Kali fell to the ground, with Blake catching her. She couldn't say anything, but she was able to smile before she passed.

Ghira slammed his fist into what he thought was Adam. It turned out to be a random Black fang troop. Adam was appeared behind Kali's body and ripped the sword out of her. Some of her blood flicked on Blake's face. She couldn't move.

"Kali! Blake!" Ghira cried out. He rushed over towards Adam and grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against a wall.

"I'll rip you apart!" Ghira Cried out. Adam's hand went to his neck. Adam dropped his sword. He kneed Ghira, but he didn't let go.

"I can't believe I have to bail you out" Hazel said. Weiss summoned her knight, only for him to take the hit. He gripped the blade and broke it. Hazel threw the sword up and punched the knight. It went backwards and fell.

Hazel rushed over to Ghira and tackled him. Ghira dropped Adam, and quickly threw Hazel off him. Weiss tried to get over to fight but couldn't hit Hazel without risking Ghira. Adam used the confusion to Kick Weiss across the room into Blake, who was still holding her mother's body. She fell forward into the ground, but she didn't care. Ghira threw Hazel off him and quickly got up. He turned around and felt Adam's sword enter his body. Ghira looked down and felt the pain. He grimaced and fell to his knees. Adam struck him in the lung. Once the sword was gone, his lung would soon fill up with his blood and drown him. Adam pulled the sword out and looked at Ghira.

"Look at what you built your entire life. You failed to keep it all together, and now, this little segment, this small splitter is all that's left. With no one to lead it. It will soon collapse." Adam got in closer.

"You started me down this path. Everything you've done, gone. You are a failure." Adam was about to open a portal when Ghira coughed. He turned around.

"My mistake was… getting attached to you…" He tried to get up and fell to one knee. If Adam was still alive, he might have felt pity. He looked over at Hazel, holding back to two huntresses.

"Attached? Don't give me that garbage."

"I never should.. have…" Ghira was struggling to his feet. "Given up… on you." Ghira was on his own two feet." His vision was getting blurry. He would die very soon, leaving his daughter alone. "But I leave… behind my… greatest work. She will correct… my mistake."

Adam turned and entered the portal. Hazel left as well.

Blake rushed over to her father, his blood covering him.

"You look just like your mother." Ghira said, standing on his own two feet. He closed his eyes, and his knees buckled under his weight. He fell into Blake. She caught him. His blood covering her just like her mother's did. He was gone.

Soon after Yang, Ruby, and Vuren entered the room. Blake stood there, quiet with tears running down her face. She fell to her knees and put her head into her father's chest. A scream of Agony rang out even after reinforcements arrived.

* * *

Coco took cover as the assassin was firing at her. Velvet used Blake's weapon to latch onto a tree and swung around to kick the assassin off the tree. She fell to the ground with a thud.

Ninth knew her cybernetics were severely damaged and that she couldn't rely on them now.

She also couldn't run away. He leg was bleeding, and she was sure that something was broken. But she wasn't the only one hurt. The rabbit got hit more than once. But her aura took care of most of the work. The other one was much harder to see, let alone get a hit on. She struggled more than she thought she would. The rabbit kicked her backwards. She smelt something and felt wet. She realized it was gasoline.

She heard ropes moving and quickly found that her leg was wrapped. She was dragged out from where she was and felt more rope wrap around her. Soon, her entire body was covered by rope. They pulled her to a wide-open area, and felt more gasoline cover her. The two girls came out and stood in front of her. The rabbit grabbed the part of her ear that Nine cut off all that time ago. Nine struggled to reach for her pistols when the rabbit came up behind her and broke each of her fingers individually. Nine screamed out in pain.

"I told you I was going to kill you. I keep my promises."

Velvet pulled out a cigarette and gave it to Coco. Coco lit it and handed it back to Velvet. Velvet took a puff of it and blew the smoke in Nine's face. Nine trashed trying to get free, but she couldn't. Velvet threw the cigarette on Nine and started to walk away.

They heard the screams from nine for a while afterwards.

"There we have it, revenge." Coco said.

Velvet shook her head. Coco stopped her. "How do you feel?" She asked.

Velvet felt tears coming and could only shake her head. Coco put her hand on Velvet's shoulder, and Velvet turned to face her. She hugged Coco and they both fell to the ground.

Coco gave reassuring words till Velvet calmed down.

Velvet looked in Coco's eyes and kissed her.

* * *

Blake felt empty inside. She looked at her parents one last time as the medics placed their bodies in body bags. She found out that Khan also died from Vuren, but that didn't matter to her. She was alone again.

Yang reached her hand out to Blake but stopped.

"Blake…?"

Blake didn't say anything, couldn't say anything. She just looked down at her hands, covered with her mother's blood, and at her shirt, covered with her father's blood. She felt so cold.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Yang asked.

Blake shook her head. No words could come to mind. Why wasn't she able to move? Why couldn't see just fight Adam?

Adam. She clenched her fists, and her jaw. Her hands began to shake. "That Bastard Adam did this. He has to pay." Blake said.

Yang felt the dark side roll of Blake. Ruby could see it too. She could almost see it in a literal sense.

"Blake… We need you to calm down." Vuren said. Her hand were already on her lightsabers.

Blake stood up

"Calm down! What are you…" Blake was going to continue until her necklace glowed the darkness disappeared.

Blake fell to her knees. She felt sick.

Yang caught her.

Blake cried more.

* * *

 **Year 4 Month 0 Day 06**

Echo was at the meeting this time. Four assassin's dead in less than a month, As Third now, after killing the previous third, Echo entered the true inner circle. Second in line to lead the order, but maybe it was at the least opportune time. Twelfth challenged Jet and lost shortly after Echo killed third. But in the field where disaster struck. Ninth and Sixth were both killed, thought Ninth and Sixth did succeed in their last missions, they were of no use anymore.

Jet moved up four seats, making her the new ninth, but she became even more of a target. And he himself put a target on his back. Echo had to watch out for Second trying to take him out now.

"It wasn't your fault that the mission failed entirely, and in a sense, it failing helped us greatly, but this does reflect poorly on you." Emperor Sym said. "I will pay your usual fee this time, but It will decrease next time I call upon you." The call ended. Everyone left except for Echo and Jet.

"Do you have a question?" Echo asked

"Yes. How did the Alliance know our moves?"

Echo asked himself the same thing

* * *

Emperor Sym knew what went wrong. There was a leak, but this to leak out was very disturbing. It meant that the Alliance has, and even maybe has had for the entire war, had a mole in the higher ups. Echo proved all that time ago he could get moles to expose themselves, but if they were this high up, not even he might be enough. Sym called all the Sith in a council.

"I have grave news. The Alliance has a spy among our ranks, and someone high up." Sym said

"How do you know?" Lord Watu asked.

"Well, the Alliance was able to respond quickly to our assassinations" Lady Culls said.

"That is suspicious but not guaranteed" Watu said

"I think we can say it is more than suspicious" Soule said.

"We are accusing one of our top operatives of conspiracy." Lady Amona. She was a human Sith lord. She oversaw gathering the many force sensitives in the empire to train them to be Sith

"I wouldn't make such a claim if we had no basis. In fact, I have evidence that we have a mole." A hologram of the world appeared.

"Between the time it took to create the list of those who I wanted dead, and the time of this incident there were many transmissions sent out of the capital. Now watch." Hundreds of lines came from the capital going all over world. Then all the lines that stayed in the empire disappeared. That made a large portion of the messages vanish.

"Those that went to the alliance anywhere were gathered and read. Most were simply to family members from our citizens. We these were also much more public so we are disqualifying them."

More lines vanished, leaving now less than ten lines.

"These lines contain our mole. Two of these decided to jump all over. Probably to keep themselves hidden, but they were made they day before the attack, so they wouldn't be the ones we need to look after." They disappeared.

"We also checked with all the others. With the help of one of our double agents, we gathered the key to unlock this puzzle." Four messages stayed on. They were blinking red.

"These were sent from here. They all went to Vale. Our mole has a connection to someone who's in Vale. Now this would be hard to figure out, because it would mean an extensive, and loud, background check on all our operatives." Sym punched a few buttons and soon all the messages came up.

"We still don't know the sender, or the receiver. Find one, and we find the other." Soule said.

"Exactly, so now we need bait." Sym said.

"What do you mean?"

"I'd be more than willing to lose a battle that means little in the wide scale of things here, but I can't stand a rat" Sym said

* * *

Cobe sat at his desk, going over documents like he had been for what seemed like years. With his job now being more about the big picture, he lost the ability to personally see the troops off. A blessing in disguise for him. It gave him all the time he needed. He was certain his computer was the best he was going to get it. Besides, he hadn't been caught yet. He got so good at sending the documents to Bora that he made it completely unnoticeable to anyone being nosy. His girlfriend, someone who was in the white fang during the battle like him, brought him a cup of coffee.

"Thanks babe" Cobe said.

"What are we doing for lunch?"

"Do we still have those leftovers?" Cobe asked.

"Didn't you finish those for breakfast?" She said

"Oh yeah, why not get some…" He got a call. "It's the captain." He sighed.

"Don't worry. I'll let you go back to your job." She left. Cobe picked up the phone.

While he was talking, he was able to send Bora the report for a battle in the next week.

Little did he know that the trap was about to be sprung. That report was given to only a select few. It would send a bug to the sender, which would be able to direct itself back to the original file. The file secretly saved itself to the computer, deep inside. It was a sleeping bug, only to wake up when it was sent to an unknown receiver.

Bora went to one of the computers in their house. She got a notification that Cobe sent her a new message.

She was about to click the document when she heard Jade crying. She got up and went to her. Roni was over the house having tea with Karel and Rouge.

Bora put Jade back to bed and went to the computer. She clicked the document and deciphered it. She was glad Roni was here. She printed it out and gave it to Roni. She went to exit out of the document, but something happened. The computer froze. Then a message popped up.

"Sending location"

Karel came over to look at it when it left.

"What does that mean?" Karel asked.

"I have a bad feeling." Bora said. She almost called Cobe, but she didn't know if it was worth the risk.

"It may just be a pop up." Karel said, unconvincingly.

Bora made the call.

"Hey Alice, is it important?" Cobe said Alice was her code name. She got the idea that there was someone nearby.

"I think we got bedbugs, so do you know where I can get a good mattress." It was code for a bug that could expose them.

"Well, your going to need to get rid of it, I think I can get you a new one. Was that it?" A superior was around, and he needed to get off.

They ended the call.

"Damnit."

Karel knew the story already.

* * *

Vox got the information she needed. Sym entered the room.

"We got a bite. Bring in Soule and Zia."

"Why them?" Sym asked.

"They'll enjoy this." Vox said looking at the answer.

Shortly after Soule and Zia entered the room.

"This better be good. We're wasting good training time." Soule said

"We found where the rat sleeps. Can you guess where?" Vox asked with a wicked smile on her face.

"I have no idea." Zia said

"The home of Commander Karel Allusis and Bora Lone." Vox said

Soule almost laughed. So, the traitor was giving them their precious secrets. Bold, very bold.

"And we were able to download all files from the sender. We can confirm that the traitor was there since the beginning. And they were the same one who betrayed them just days ago.

They were down to the last few candidates. All once trusted, but now all under suspicion. They were wondering how much longer it would take for the last few names to be crossed off.

* * *

Cobe had to spend the rest of the day pretending he wasn't afraid for his life. It was so much harder than it looked. If he was able to go home, maybe this would all blow over. Lord Watu came to talk to him about getting him a squad of highly skilled troops for him. He was always scared around Watu. But Cobe was the person to talk to if you wanted to create a new battalion.

He felt Watu stare into his soul. It was hard to tell what Watu was looking for.

Cobe could imagine a rope wrapping around his neck.

Thankfully that was his only encounter with the Sith for the rest of his day. Everyone else was easy to deal with, but not them. He walked back to his home. He texted his girlfriend, but she didn't answer. He unlocked his door and opened it. He placed his stuff down and noticed something was off. He quickly reach for his pistol and fired it. A hand came up and blocked the shots. He turned a light on, and saw it was Empress Vox.

"I'm so sorry my empress." He knelt.

"For what? Attacking me?"

"I am so sorry. I didn't know it was you." He said

Vox looked at a picture of a baby on the wall. She opened the frame and looked at the back.

"Jade Lone. Do you know anyone by that name? Or perhaps her mother, Bora Lone?" She already knew the answer, but she was curious what he would say.

"She's the second in command to the 122nd alliance legion." Cobe started to sweat. Then he got worried.

"Excuse me your excellence, but has Lacey come back? Did she let you in?" He felt as thought his heart was about to burst.

"You know more about Bora Lone don't you. I can tell." She ignored his question.

"She used to take care of me when I was younger." Cobe knew telling the truth was his only option.

"Finally, some truth. I was able to tell that you had a deeper connection with her by this picture. It's of her baby." Vox's tone grew sterner. The environment grew heavier if that was possible.

"She's like a sister to me." Cobe said "But I haven't seen her in a long time." He added. It was true at least.

"I am sure you know that we hired an assassin recently to kill a VIP of the alliance, but they somehow learned that we were coming."

Cobe remembered sending the document.

"I heard that your excellence."

"But did you hear that we have a spy?" Vox pulled out a glass from his cupboard and pulled out a red wine. She poured it and gave it to Cobe.

"Drink it." She said

"It would not be right to drink before you." He said

"I will not be having a drink. I am here to tell you we found the spy."

Cobe didn't know if he should feel relieved or terrified. He grabbed the glass of wine and took a sip.

"We know that you are the traitor." Vox said. She was turned around. Cobe went for his door. When he opened it, Lord Watu was standing there. Cobe turned around and saw Vox shaking her head.

"You betrayed the empire. You know what that means don't you?" Watu slammed his head against the table.

Vox grabbed his scroll and opened it up. She placed it down and made a hologram of Bora appear.

Bora picked up the call and saw that Cobe's head was pushed against a table.

"What's going on?" Bora asked

"Is that the woman who's been stealing our secrets?" Bora recognized the voice. Cobe had been caught. Karel went to her side when he saw the image pop up.

"And I see the Commander is here as well. Tell them Cobe what's going on." Vox demanded.

Cobe tried to stop it, but he couldn't.

"I was caught." He said.

"Please don't hurt him" Bora said

"Alright." Watu let go of Cobe, then he got his lightsaber and slashed Cobe across the back.

Cobe fell out of frame.

"No" she said

Karel clenched his fist

"Sith Scum!" he yelled

"I did what you asked. He felt no pain."

"You monster." Bora said. The call ended, and Bora started to cry into Karel's chest.

Vox kicked the body when she was leaving the house. She ordered the house be burned down, and for it to look like an accident.

"That's what happens to spies." Vox said, as the flame started.

 _ **Author's Notes: This was a darker chapter. A lot of major character deaths. Hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed writing it.**_

 _ **What did you think of episode 9?**_

 _ **There's not to much more to say, so I'll end it here**_

 _ **May the Force be With you**_

 _ **-Dragonzlayerx12**_

 _ **P.S. welcome to a new decade.**_


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